How We Get Free: Black Feminism And The Combahee River Collective Pdf

Demita Frazier

Born	Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Northeastern University (JD)
Occupation	Contained Scholar, Writer, Social Justice Activist
Move	Blackness Feminism

Demita Frazier is a Blackness Feminist, thought leader, author, teacher, and social justice activist.^[1] ^[2] She is a founding member of the Combahee River Collective (CRC).^[3] While it has been more than forty years since the Combahee River Commonage released their Blackness Feminist Statement,^[iv] Frazier has remained committed to the "lifetime of work and struggle"^[4] for liberation for all.

Early on life and activism [edit]

As a child of the Fifties, Frazier attributes the events during the years of 1967-1969, including but not limited to the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement and the Women's Movement, as a "political awakening" for her.^[5] One text was peculiarly influential for Frazier, which was Woman Power: The Movement for Women'south Liberation by Celestine Ware.

Frazier began her lifelong commitment to activism past opposing the Vietnam War in loftier school. After leaving traditional school settings to pursue her own independent studies, Frazier participated in political organizing and activism with the Chicago Black Panther'due south Breakfast Program and the Jane Collective.^[5] Frazier somewhen moved to Boston and connected organizing at that place. In Boston, she connected with other founding members of the CRC, Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith, through the National Blackness Feminist Organisation (NBFO).^[five] The CRC was an evolution of the NBFO. In addition to her organizing and activism, Frazier obtained her Juris Doctorate from Northeastern University.^[two]

Combahee River Commonage [edit]

The CRC solidified the foundation that broadened the Black feminism perspective with their founding in 1974.^[1] The grouping's name came from the heroic actions of Harriet Tubman, who solely led a campaign that freed more than than 750 slaves at South Carolina's Combahee River in 1863.^[1] The overall mission of the CRC was to inform society of the lived experiences of African-American women. The released their "Combahee River Collective Argument in 1974.^[iv] Their statement includes the first usage of identity politics and was an important contribution to the concept in critical theory.^[five]

As a founding fellow member of the Combahee River Collective , Frazier intellectual labor is referenced every time the CRC name is uttered. One of the largest contributions of the CRC statement is the recognition of "intersecting oppressions" prior to the coining of the term intersectionality past Kimberlé Crenshaw. Which Frazier says in Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor'south (Ed.) book, How We Become Complimentary that she noted in "probably our tertiary or fourth typhoon of the statement, I said,...we stand at the intersection where are identities are indivisible."^[5]

The CRC and their statement defined Black Feminism and then and their words and legacy continue to shape it presently. For Frazier, "Black Feminism is a representation of Black women's ability. Blackness women's agency. Black women's right to look at their cloth conditions, analyze it, interrogate it, and come away with an analysis that's about empowerment."^[v]

References to the contributions and bear on of the CRC can be plant throughout the canon of Blackness Feminist Thought in works such as Words of Burn: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought edited by Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Mouths of Rain: An Album of Blackness Lesbian Thought edited by Briona Simone Jones.

The Combahee River Collective disbanded in 1980 and Frazier wrote the grouping'south final statement, alongside Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith.^[five]

Afterwards life [edit]

Frazier has taught and lectured throughout the New England region, most recently at Bunker Hill Community College.^[half-dozen]

On the subject of intergenerational coalition, Frazier stated in a 2017 roundtable:

"...I dream of deep listening across the generations, both to what nosotros find easy to say and to that with which we struggle mightily...Organizing for political alter is hard work, specially in coalition, and core bug--the ability to deeply listen, to tolerate ambiguity and paradox, to demonstrate respect in the ways that are most meaningful when working across and through difference---take a kind of discipline that takes leadership and fourth dimension to develop."^[vi]

In that same roundtable when asked of how she keeps going in the piece of work of liberation, Frazier said:

"I am unwilling to surrender this fight for freedom, for all people, especially Blackness people, and I am inspired past the many humans I share this planet with who are committed to that struggle. And then many quietly dauntless, unwavering people have shared the struggle for liberty. I am allied with that energy."^[6]

Frazier continues to dismantle the myth of white supremacy, past working to cease misogynoir, hetero-patriarchal hegemony, and undermining late stage capitalism.^[2] She is a practicing unallied Buddhist, committed to embodied loving kindness.^[ii] When she isn't working she enjoys working in her garden and cooking.^[2]

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Black, Feminist, Revolutionary: Remembering the Combahee River Collective - EBONY". world wide web.ebony.com. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 2018-04-05 .
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "About – Demita Frazier". Retrieved 2021-03-01 .
^ Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Blackness Power Movement . Collier-Thomas, Bettye., Franklin, V. P. (Vincent P.), 1947-. New York: New York University Press. 2001. ISBN0814716024. OCLC 46500340. {{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c Combahee River Collective (2019-01-01). "A Blackness Feminist Statement". Monthly Review: 29–36. doi:10.14452/mr-070-08-2019-01_3. ISSN 0027-0520. S2CID 239308920.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^{due east} ^f ^g (EDT), Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta (2017). HOW WE Get Free : Black Feminism and the Combahee River Commonage. Consortium Book Sales & Dist. ISBN978-1-60846-855-3. OCLC 1014297168.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Gender, Race, and Generations: A Roundtable Discussion | Wellesley Centers for Women". www.wcwonline.org . Retrieved 2021-03-26 .