How Black Freedom Is Linked To Black Feminism

Black Feminist activists and scholars have had profound impact on the lives of people in the United States. Unfortunately, most of us are not familiar with these contributions. Building on its mission to fill in gaps in our understanding of U.S. history, the National Women’s History Museum is set on making sure we all understand the history and power of Black Feminists.

What is Black Feminism? It is the idea that Black women are inherently valuable and that the liberation of Black women is necessary for humanity. Moreover, Black Feminism is an intellectual, artistic, philosophical, and activist practice grounded in Black women’s lived experiences.

The “We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC” exhibit highlights the stories and voices of Black Feminist organizers and theorists. Curated by historians Sherie Randolph and Kendra Field, the exhibition stands at the intersection of race, gender, and class. It also honors the work that Black Feminists have continuously fought for throughout history.

According to Randolph and Field, the exhibition chronicles early Black Feminism of the “Jane Crow” era to the future of Black Feminism. Featured is Anna Julia Cooper, a Black Feminist scholar who championed Black women’s education, was one of the first Black women in the nation to earn a doctoral degree (University of Paris, 1924), and argued for an understanding of intersectionality for Black women before the term was made well known by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw. Also profiled is Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington, D.C.’s longest congressional representative, a lawyer, activist, and the first women to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Randolph and Field don’t shy away from controversial topics in the exhibition. For example, they include Nkenge Touré, a former member of the Black Panther Party, leader in the reproductive justice, anti-racism, and Black women’s health movements in the exhibition. Along with Touré, Mary Treadwell, a DC-based community organizer most known for her advocacy related to the decriminalization of abortion and her work related to bodily autonomy as a form of Black liberation is featured prominently.

Curating the exhibition is part of a long-term and personal commitment to Black Feminism for Randolph and Field. Randolph is an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the founder of the Black Feminist Think Tank while Field is an associate professor of history and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at Tufts University.

The exhibition, which tells the story of the profound impact of Black Feminists on society, policy, and everyday lives, is free and open to the public from March 30th through September 31, 2024 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.