What is womanism? I first heard the term at a Stanford Black Student Union Conference my junior year of high school, but the little information I learned that day about womanism quickly left my memory. About a week ago, I was on Twitter and saw a girl who had “womanist” in her bio and it sparked my interest. If you google womanism, you’ll find two definitions.
1. believing in and respecting the abilities and talents of women; acknowledging women’s contributions to society
2. pertaining to a type of feminism that acknowledges the abilities and contributions of black women
The second definition is more commonly associated with the term womanism. The word “womanist” was created by, Alice Walker, who is an African-American writer and activist. She is most well known for her novel, The Color Purple but has written many other works as well, including In Search of Our Mother’s Garden: Womanist Prose in which she used the term womanist for the first time. Womanism was created to recognize Black women who were overlooked during the Feminist Movement. Mostly middle class White women benefitted from the Feminist Movement, and although African-American women received many rights from the Civil Rights Movement, they weren’t recognized and praised for their immense contributions to society.
African-American women struggled with being seen as the lesser of the two sexes and as a minority, left in the shadows, while White women and African-American men stood on the forefront of the Feminist and Civil Rights Movements. African-American women also had to decide which fight was greater: the fight against sexism or racism? Fortunately, womanism fights both.
You may be wondering, how does womanism differ from feminism? In reality, they are pretty similar. Alice Walker said, “Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender”. Womanists support feminist efforts, but they also add the African-American woman perspective that was missing during the Feminist Movement. Also, womanism focuses on aspects of Black families as well, not just Black women. Because womanism combats racism, Black men and children are included as well.
Personally, I think one of the reasons womanism isn’t a well known term is because there are few womanists. We still haven’t fully recognized Black women for their amazing capabilities and contributions to society. Of course, we have Black History Month, but Black women deserve to be celebrated for more than 28 days out of the year. And obviously, all women need recognition no matter what their racial background is and men deserve recognition as well. But, there’s no harm in taking some time to appreciate all the African-American women in your life. I challenge you to learn about 3 African-American women who are of great importance to American history this month and learn more about womanism.
“When Black women stick together, we are the most powerful force in the universe”-Alfre Woodard
