Women, race, & class

Hello and welcome to this presentation about the book Women

Race and Class by Angela Y.

Davis. Before we delve into the analysis, let's briefly review

the book and consider the background of its author.

Angela Y.

Davis is a black feminist scholar, historian and activist.

Born in the Deep South in the 19 forties and

educated both domestically and abroad in Europe, her experiences and

position Haliti as a black woman, heavily informed her work

and allowed her to make substantial contributions to progressive social

movements of the mid late 20th century.

In this particular book, Davis unpacked the social dissonance in

the United States, which is developed around issues of race,

gender and especially class.

She achieves this by going back in time and identifying

the policies and ideologies that helped create the social conditions

we still witness today.

What made this analysis so revolutionary, especially for the 19

eighties, is that it was done through an intersectional lens

and reflected the historical perspectives of black men, white women,

immigrant and working class women and, of course, black women

during the period directly before the Civil War, all the

way up through the 19 seventies.

She asserts that because black women have historically been subjected

to the double oppression of racism and sexism.

Their historical perspectives in modern interpretations of the events of

this era help us better understand what happened because as

a group they were often directly victimized but also fiercely

resistant to the ideologies that sought to repress them.

Throughout the book, she consistently draws connections between the parallels

and ideological differences of historical and modern social movements that

have sought to further people's liberties.

The most important theme in this book, however, is that

capitalism is ultimately the root of the problems experienced by

all of society.

According to Davis, ideological institutions like racism and sexism are

not freestanding phenomenon in and of themselves, rather their tools

used to regulate and oppress the laboring class so that

the ruling class can consolidate and maintain economic power.

There were many things to take away from this book,

but two things stood out for me in particular.

First was that in the quest for women's liberation, two

distinct perspectives of feminist ideology were inspired by different social

definitions and standards of womanhood.

Second was realizing that despite being there being a plethora

of examples, popular historical perspectives were taught in school give

us extremely poor representations of feminist heroes.

Yeah, both of the feminist ideologies that were inspired by

the rise of monopoly capitalism are rooted in a woman's

proximity to the labor force.

The one we're most familiar with collectively in the U.

S. Was inspired by the position of white women in

the mid late 18 hundreds, who belonged to the rising

middle class and bourgeoisie after a new historic industrial economy

had, after a new industrial economy replaced the home based

one, women's economic contributions within the home and community as

the main producers of everything their families needed to survive

became obsolete.

The roles of these women who did not work began

to be shaped by an emerging ideology called femininity, which

infantilized women, labeling them as incapable of meaningful economic contributions,

making political decisions or even controlling their own lives.

The ideology of femininity further asserted that a woman's role

within society was to be a mother and caretaker exclusively,

and that she was to remain in the sphere of

the home or other more genteel environments.

Many women in this predicament began to reject it and

pursued the right of suffrage as a means to liberation.

This brand of feminism was championed by famous names like

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.

Anthony. The inspiration for the second ideology is rooted in

the collective experiences of working women and developed alongside labor

movements of the Industrial Revolution.

It is a more inclusive version of feminism that calls

attention to the double standard of femininity.

Because women who worked as wage earners were not in

the home, they were not fulfilling the roles as women

simultaneously because they were women.

They did not possess the same liberties as the men

they worked alongside, and were therefore subjected to lower wages,

harsher conditions and longer hours.

They were considered less than women by social standards and

also regarded as beneath the men they worked with.

Black women were especially influential in shaping this movement because

they had collectively experienced this W subordinate treatment since slavery.

Throughout the book, Davis references many lesser known women from

history who had a far greater impact on progressing women's

rights than Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Susan B.

Anthony ever did.

In fact, using their own words, Davis gives a myriad

of examples, articulating how these women consistently screwed others over

in order to achieve their own goal of suffrage for

white, middle class women, everything from throwing Frederick Douglass under

the bus when he needed support for the right to

suffrage for black men to rejecting black and other working

class women.

In an effort to ensure that white women of the

South supported their cause, these so called leaders believed that

no other issues in society were more important than their

own. As I read more about the blatant racism they

endorsed in the ways in which they ruthlessly attacked others

in pursuit of their own agenda, I kept being reminded

of the barbecue.

Becky and the I'd like to speak to your manager,

Karen Memes, depicting angry, extremely entitled middle class white women.

Someday I hope to open a history book and in

the section about women's suffrage, see pictures of great women

organizers, writers and orators that furthered our rights not by

aggressively pursuing the ballot at all costs, but by coming

together to fight against the oppression of the time and

blaze new trails.

Women like Ida B.

Wells, who fiercely called attention to and fought against lynch

mobs that terrorized the masses.

Women like the grim key sisters who forcefully rejected their

station as white women of the slaveholding class and dedicated

their careers to liberating others.

Women, like the countless female educators mentioned throughout the book,

black and white alike, who worked tirelessly and selflessly to

liberate the masses through the acquisition of education.

Practically speaking, this book has extremely important lessons pertaining to

diversity and inclusion.

One major lesson is that modern movements are 100% susceptible

to the subtle influences of racist ideology, and this illustrates

the importance of modern progressives to know their history and

pay attention.

Another major consideration is that racism and sexism have kept

women, especially black women, from achieving positions of leadership and

power. Historically so, Davis does a really phenomenal job of

going back in time and constructing the formation of racist

ideology. And it's subtle but damaging manifestation in modern movements.

She relates the evolution of racism alongside different liberation movements

and draws lines directly from the pre Civil War era

to modern progressive social campaigns.

For example, before the institution of slavery was even outlawed,

white abolitionists failed to widely promote anti racist consciousness, and

this in turn influenced the formation of two different women's

movements, one which was heavily influenced by racism during the

late 19th century, the stereotype and myth of the black

race rapist and corresponding, promiscuous black woman emerged and were

used to manipulate whites into the justification of the maltreatment

of blacks and the terror of lynching.

White middle class feminists embraced this version of racism and

refused to integrate their campaigns for women's rights because they

believed it would result in the development of white women.

During the early 20th century, white supremacy began to emerge

alongside American imperialism.

Society became began to assume a patriarchal structure in which

people of color were classified as uncivilized, barbaric and childlike,

while white women as quote mothers of the race were

deified as the Savior, is responsible for replenishing the white

race that white men could maintain social and economic power.

Then, during the early mid 20th century, the pseudo science

of eugenics was used to argue for the physical and

ideological purification of the human race and white Anglo Saxons

regime superior above all others.

This was used to justify the murder and sterilization of

those who were labeled unfit for reproduction, including those living

in poverty.

For decades, thousands of black and other women of color

were systematically robbed of their reproductive rights under cruel population

control laws.

Therefore, when the pro abortion movement of the 20th century

chose to focus exclusively on legal abortion rather than fighting

for the reproductive rights of others and addressing the inherent

racism in the system that led to forced sterilization practices,

they failed to to include and protected all women.

They reinforce the institutional racism and ignored legal genocide.

This book also has so many examples of why and

how black women are amazing leaders because they were historically

regarded as equal to men and held accountable for the

same work output.

Black women have never developed a collective psyche of subordinates

the same way white middle class women did the intersection

of their position.

Haliti gives black women the ability to identify across social

political lines and be leaders for us all.

In the book, Davis discusses the contributions of black female

leaders whose organization and activism during the Black Club movement

was responsible for progressing the rights of black people, all

women and society in general.

Women like Josephine ST Pierre, Bluefin Mary, Church Terril and

Maria Stewart.

It was these women who relentlessly organized and took action

to establish a base upon which equal rights could be

realized. The legacy they inspired is further evidence by current

black female leaders.

As the city of Atlanta native, I have to give

a shout out to Stacey Abrams, who aggressively and successfully

challenged voter suppression while mobilizing masses of traditionally disenfranchised voters

in the 2020 Election.

Her efforts drove historic voter turnout and allowed for the

election of both a black man and a Jewish man

to the Georgia Senate for the first time in history.

Okay, as someone who wishes to work to promote equitable

access to outdoor recreation and outdoor spaces in general, this

book held a lot of professional relevance.

It also made me reflect on what it means to

be an ally.

Overwhelmingly, the book demonstrates that solidarity works when different factions

come together, hold space for each other, validate and uplift

the experiences of those who are most subjugated to oppression.

They're able to collectively achieve more progress.

The histories of organizations like the international Workers of the

world, who emphatically embraced anti racism as a key position

in their labor movement embody the spirit, as did individuals

like Prudence, Crandall and Marttila, minor educators who went to

great personal links to fight for black Americans right to

an education.

It also made me realize the importance of being able

to reflect and admit mistakes.

While this is an important thing to do on an

individual level, to combat internal, implicit bias, I think it's

even more important for companies to do this, especially in

industries that have been exclusionary in the past, whether consciously

or not and as touched on earlier, just like in

modern movements, it's important that these industries know their histories

and use that knowledge to help create more space for

others. The outdoor industry and environmental movements are currently experiencing

a reckoning within with regard to the underpinnings of racism,

sexism and classism that are associated with the historical development

of many outdoor spaces and the recreation that takes place

within them.

At present, there are many groups wanting to mobilize initiatives

for diversity and inclusion, but there's little willingness to reflect

on and acknowledge how whiteness, paleness and economic privilege have

worked together to contribute to the to restrict access to

others. Mm in closing, I'd like to leave you with

a few big picture questions to consider.

Why is there such a limited understanding of historical liberation

movements and the people who led them when we have

such an abundance of representation and perspective?

What keeps society from universally embracing this history, and how

do we integrate into educational curriculum?

Additionally, what can society do to eliminate racist and sexist

stereotypes that perpetuate violence and oppression?

How can we, individually and collectively, take a stand against

microaggressions being perpetuated around us every day in our professional

and personal lives?

Ultimately, this book gives us a framework through which we

can understand the interconnectedness of oppression and about how black

women in particular, have been subjected to its enduring consequences.

It gives seemingly divided individuals a better understanding of how

their moral and political abuse may have inadvertently been influenced

by racism and sexism.

Most importantly, it encourages folks to rally in solidarity against

a common enemy, the institution of capitalism rather than each

other. Okay, that concludes this analysis of women race and

class. Thank you for taking the time to listen to

my presentation.

I look forward to your feedback

Women, race, & class

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