Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Aboriginal people, 100, 103–4, 120, 140–41
Aboriginal women, 100, 103–4, 140–41
academic feminism, 39–43
action, 42, 77
anger translated into, 57
guilt as a way of avoiding, 61
silence transformed into, 9–14
actions, responsibility for, 85
African-Americans, 99–100
African-American women writers, 106. See also Black Women writers
African diaspora, 99–100
Afro-German women of, 88–89
Black women writers of, 105, 106–7, 129–30
hyphenated people of, 90
African National Congress (ANC), 91–92, 136
Africanness, 85, 98, 103. See also Blackness
Africans, Black, 103
Afro-Americans, 89, 98. See also Black women
Afro-Asians, 89
Afro-Dutch, 98
Afro-Europeans, 89
Afro-French, 99
Afro-Germans, 89, 98–99
ageism, 175
Alexis, 111
Alice, 140. See also Thembi (Alice)
america
economics of disease in, 131
oppression in, 98
racial violence in, 152
surviving, 11–12
American Indians. See Native Americans
Anderson, Marian, 69
Andrea, 132–33
anger, 46, 71, 147
Black women and, 53–65
change and, 62
energy and, 57–58
facing constructively, 60
fear and, 61–62
hatred and, 59
information and, 57–58
racism and, 53–65
translated into action, 57
uses of, 53–65
women and, 53–65
women of Color and, 62
Anguilla, British West Indies, 127–28
anthroposophy, 158
antiracism, 78
apartheid, 149, 152, 158
Arlesheim, Switzerland. See Lukas Klinik
art, Black women and, 155–56
Art Against Apartheid, 78
the ascetic, 32
Asian-Americans, 103
Auckland, New Zealand, 141
Audre Lorde Women’s Poetry Center, Hunter College, 108–10
Ayers Rock, 141
Barbados, 15
Beauvoir, Simone de, 43, 149
being, 40
Bembe, 138
Beth (daughter), 100–101, 110, 126
Bishop, Maurice, 129
Black Africans, 103
Black america, white america’s mistakes and, 49
Black american soldiers, 106–7
Black american women, 106
Black community
cancer in, 159
poetry and, 89
blackface, 45–51
Black family, 75
Black feminism, 39–43, 45–51, 73–80, 97, 105–6
Black feminists, 39–43, 73–80, 97, 105–6
Black Gay men, 78
Black Germans, 89
Black lesbian feminists, 73–80
Black lesbians, 40, 73–80, 105–6
Black liberation, 49–50, 51, 98
Black male consciousness, 49
Black men, 45–51, 75, 106
Black women and, 45–51, 76, 78–79
liberation of, 49
married to white women, 48–49
need to dominate and, 49
responsibility of, 48
Black Nation, 78
Blackness, 11, 74, 85, 99–100, 103, 163
Black people, invisibility of, 162
Black poets, 77
Black pride, 47
Black Revolution, 99
Black South Africans, 103
Black South African women, 141, 163–64
“The Black Woman Writer and the Diaspora” conference, 105
Black women, 39, 41, 42, 63, 73–80, 141. See also Black feminists; Black lesbians; Black women writers; women of Color; specific groups
abuse of, 50–51
anger and, 53–65
art and, 155–56
Black men and, 45–51, 76, 78–79
cancer and, 150–51
compassion and, 47
economic inequities and, 45–51
energy and, 97
in Germany, 89
magazines for, 155
mutual support among, 156
organizing across sexualities, 73–80
sacrifices of, 47–48
self-determination and, 82
spirituality and, 155–56
stress and, 158
survival and, 82, 85, 156
underrepresentation in publishing and culture, 42
visibility and, 11–12
white women and, 54–65, 95–96, 97
Black Women for Wages for Housework, 56
Black Women’s Book Fair, 132–33
Black women’s writing, teaching of, 13
Black women writers, 105, 106–7, 129–30
of African diaspora, 106–7, 129–30
responsibilities of, 106–7
Blanche (Blanchie), 111, 126, 130–31
blindness, 50, 63
Bonnieux, France, 133–39
Botha, P. W., 163
British Virgin Islands, 167–71
Brown, Wilmette, 56
Butler, Octavia, 105
C., Dr., 105, 111
Canaan, Andrea, 105
cancer, 9, 107–8, 111–12, 139, 141–42
acknowledging, 161–62
anonymous face of, 164
battles with, 149, 157–58, 163–65
biopsies, 86–87, 91, 95, 142, 145–46, 147
in Black community, 159
Black women and, 150–51
diagnosis of, 122–23, 144–46, 150
diagnosis of liver, 157
economics of, 131
empowerment of living with, 152–53
homeopathic view of, 90, 148–49, 151
living with, 81–165
mastectomy and, 81, 87, 105, 130, 144, 145, 146, 154
metastasization of, 81–82, 86–87, 92–93, 108, 144, 146–47, 148
as political, 131, 153
rage and, 147
surviving, 144, 155
cancer survivors, invisibility of, 160, 162
capital, labor and, 50
capitalism, 45–46, 50, 174
the Caribbean, 167–71
Caribbean women, 128–30, 141
Carmen (cousin), 129
Carnegie Hall, 130
Central America, U.S. intervention in, 164
Central Park, New York City, lynchings in, 152, 158
Chambers, Deotha, 87
change, anger and, 62
Charlotte, 111
Chicanas, 103
choices, 160
Christian, Robin, 79
City College, 77
Seek program, 76
Clare, 111, 126
class, 46
Clem, 148
Cliff, Michelle, 123
Cole, Johnnetta, 110, 129
collective responsibility, 12
collective work, 12
color, as color, 99
commitment, survival and, 92
communication, 60
community, liberation and, 41
compassion, Black women and, 47
Conference on the Status of Women in Nairobi, 79
connection, 41
Connor, Bull, 163
consciousness
non-european, 4
power of death over, 154
control, 153
cooking, 15–20, 23–27
Cowan, Patricia, 46, 50
creative energy, 32, 37
“creative relationships,” 51
creativity, difference and, 40–41
CR groups, 60
Dagmar, 93, 94
D.A.R., 69
defensiveness, 53–54, 60
definition
as empowerment, 42
need for, 13–14
desires. See the erotic
despair, 159
determination, 150. See also self-determination
deviance, 175
Diana, 132–33
diaspora. See African diaspora
difference, 11, 14, 59, 65, 84, 96, 97
acknowledging, 176–77
copying, 174
creativity and, 40–41, 99
dehumanization of, 174
destroying, 174
false hierarchies of, 176
fear of, 75–76
feminism and, 39–43
feminist theory and, 39–40
ignoring, 174
judged as negative or positive, 174
language and, 98, 102–3
neutralizing, 174
oppression and, 42, 176
organizing around, 79
role in women’s lives, 39
as strength, 41–42
survival and, 173–77
Dilnawaz, 115–16
Dinah, 140
discomfort, 160–61
distortions, 11, 34, 36, 53, 59, 62, 174–76
dreams, 5–7
Duke Ellington, 83, 130
Dunbar-Nelson, Alice, 78
dying, 91, 94, 106, 112, 118, 150–51, 153, 157, 164
Dykes Against Racism Everywhere, 78
eastern medicine, 158
elitism, 175
Ellen, 139
Emily, 136
empowerment, 31
definition as, 42
mutual, 63
energy, 76, 152
anger and, 57–58
Black women and, 97
determination and, 150
woman energy, 76
eros, 32
the erotic, 39
celebration of, 31
fear of, 33–35
functioning of, 33
knowledge and, 30, 32, 33
as power, 29–37
suppression of, 29
uses of, 29–37
work and, 31–32
ethnic prejudices, 125–26. See also racism
Etta (Zamani Soweto Sisters member), 137
Etta (aunt), 69
eurhythmy, 115, 121
evil, 159–60
excellence, 30, 31
exclusion, 53
existentialism, 39
family, 75
fear, 10, 11, 62, 85, 91, 131
anger and, 61–62
of the erotic, 33–35
of feeling(s), 30–31
respect for, 13–14
of visibility, 11, 13
working and speaking in spite of, 13–14
fearlessness, luxury of, 14
feeling(s), 3, 4–7, 33
depth of feeling, 30
fear of, 30–31
sharing of, 35–36
vs. thinking, 5–7
“femininity,” 49
feminism, 39–43, 73–80, 96
academic, 39–43
Black feminism, 39–43, 45–51, 73–80, 97, 105–6
difference and, 39–43
racial difference and, 39–43
racist, 42
white, 42–43, 45–51
feminist theory, 40
difference and, 39–40
white american, 42
Fireburn Mary, 163–64
First International Feminist Bookfair, 95–96
Flower, Yvonne, 79
Fourth of July, 67–71
Frances, 83, 102, 108, 110, 116, 118–21, 122, 123, 125–27, 141, 158
freedom, 5, 63–64, 98. See also Black liberation
German women of Color, 89. See also Afro-Germans
good, definition of, 31–32
Great-American-Double-Think, 47
Grenada, 15, 105, 106–7, 129
Grimké, Angelina Weld, 78, 105–6
growth, 13, 62
guilt, 53–54, 60, 61, 62, 104, 160
moving beyond, 65
hair, as political, 167–71
Hampton, Mabel, 110
Hanna, 138
Hansberry, Lorraine, 78
Harlem Renaissance, 78, 106
Harvard University, 100–101
hatred. See also women, hatred of, anger and, 59
healing, 126, 154
health, responsibility for one’s own, 149, 151
Helen (Zamani Soweto Sisters member), 137
Helen (sister), 110, 123–24, 126, 129
heterosexism, 74, 78–79, 149, 175
heterosexual Black community, 75
heterosexuality, 40
Hodge, Merle, 129
holistic approach, 151, 158
home office, 154–55
homeopathic medicine, 90, 148–49, 151
homophobia, 39, 43, 63, 74, 76, 78–80
homosexuality, 73–80. See also Black lesbians; lesbians
Honeywell, Mr., 83
Horne, Lena, 77
Howard Beach, 158
Hughes, Langston, 78
Hull, Gloria, 106
hunger, 84
Hunter College, 106, 108–10
“Difference and Survival” address at, 173–77
Hurricane Hugo, 167
ideas, 3, 6–7
identity, 99
ignorance, 60
immortality, illusion of, 164
impotence, 60
indigenous people, 107. See also Aboriginal people; Native Americans; specific groups
indigenous women, 100
inequities, economic, 45–46
information, anger and, 57–58
injustice, 71
interdependency, 40, 41
intermarriage, 48–49
International Conference of Black Feminists, 97
International Hospital for Torture Victims, 136
intimidation, 63
Iran-Contra scandal, 164
Iscador, 91
isolation, 159
Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion Star Ledger, 83
Johannesburg, South Africa, 138–39
John Jay College, Black Studies Department, 76
Jonathan (son), 101, 126
Jordan, June, 97
Joseph, Gloria, 88, 92, 93–94, 110, 123, 126, 127, 129, 134, 137, 139
joy, 33
judgment, fear of, 13
Katerina, 140
King, 83–84
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 83–84, 130
Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 137, 139, 152
knowledge, 10–11, 32, 41, 43
the erotic and, 30, 32, 33
power and, 30
Koori Day, 141
Kujichagulia, 12
Kuzwayo, Ellen, 105, 132, 133
Kwanza, 12
labor, capital and, 50
language(s), 4, 100
commitment to, 12
of difference, 102–3
difference and, 98
learning, 131
need for, 13–14
power of, 12
silence transformed into, 9–14
Latinas, 103
lesbian consciousness, 40
lesbian feminism, 73–80
lesbian feminists, Black, 73–80
lesbians, 39, 41, 51, 63, 105–6
Black, 40, 73–80, 105–6
Lesbians of Color, 82. See also Black lesbians
liberation, 41, 49–50, 51, 98
liberation consciousness, 98
lifeforce, 32
Lillah (aunt), 69
limitations, 153
Lincoln Memorial, 69
Linda, 136–37
living, meaning of, 157
Lorde, Audre
The Cancer Journals, 92, 112
children, 149. See also Beth (daughter); Jonathan (son)
father of, 64–71
keynote address on “The Language of Difference,” 102–3
mother of, 15–28, 64–71, 127
Our Dead Behind Us, 112
talk on “Sisterhood and Survival,” 105–6
Lorenz, Dr., 122–23, 125
loss, sadness of, 164
love, 32, 33
Lovedu, 135
Lukas Klinik, 107, 111, 112–27, 162
lynchings, 61, 152, 156, 158
Malcolm X, 84
male privilege, oppressive nature of, 49
Maori women, 100, 140. See also Aboriginal women
marae, 140
Ma Rainey, 78
March on Washington, 77
Margareta, 124
margarine, 34
Maria, Sister, 117–18
Mariah, 137
Marie, Sister, 121
marijuana, 170
Maris, Hyllus, 141, 142
marital slavery, 42
Mary, 138
master–slave relationships, 51
master’s tools, 39–43
Mawu, 143, 158
Maybank, Liz, 85
Mays, Raymina, 79
McAnally, Mary, 50
Medgar Evers College, 73
medicine
eastern medicine, 158
homeopathic medicine, 90, 148–49, 151
mediocrity, 30
meditation
as form of self-control, 111–12
on physical self in battle, 157–58
Melbourne, Australia, 141
Men of All Colors Together, 78
menstruation, 20, 21, 22–23, 26, 27–28
Merle, 141
Moraga, Cherrie, 139
mortality, 10–11, 89, 93, 94, 112, 126, 142, 150–53, 157, 160, 164. See also dying
confronting, 109
fear of, 13
Mujaji, 135
muteness, 13. See also silence
Myrna, 139
the mythical norm, 175–76
narcissism, 48
National Cancer Institute, 164
National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, 78
National Women’s Studies Association, 56
Native Americans, 103, 107
Native American women, 107
Nazism, 90
negativity, 152
New Caledonia, 106
New York University Institute for the Humanities conference, 39–43
nightmares, 148
Nineteenth Amendment, 61
noncommunication, 75
non-european consciousness, 4
Nudie, 141, 142
nurturance, 40
objectification, moving beyond, 65
obscenity, 36
older women, 41
openness, vs. naiveté, 157
opposition, 58–59
oppression, 49, 60, 63, 74, 99
academic feminism and, 39–43
in america, 98
capitalist, 46
difference and, 42, 176
tools of, 43
organizing, 73–80
across sexualities, 73–80
around difference, 79
pain, 13, 50, 61–62, 63, 94, 107–8, 118, 160–61
Pakahas (whites), 141
patients, rights of, 151
patriarchy, 36, 37, 40, 41–42, 61
Paul, Alice, 61
people of Color, 99, 106. See also women of Color
hatred of, 58
international community of, 85
perception, African way of, 148
Petal, 135–36
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 67
Phyllis (sister), 64–71
physical resistance, 161
poetry
freedom and, 5
as illumination, 3
importance of, 89
necessity of, 3–7
power of, 152
as revelatory distillation of experience, 4
as skeleton architecture of our lives, 5
police brutality, 152, 156
the political, 32–33
political action, 42
polygamy, 51
poor women, 39, 41, 42, 56, 63
the pornographic, 30
pornography, 30, 32, 36
Powell, Betty, 79
power, 40, 51, 63, 74, 151. See also empowerment
academic feminism and, 39–43
choice to use, 152
the erotic as, 29–37
knowledge and, 30
male models of, 29
patriarchal, 61
of poetry, 152
relativity of, 149
women and, 30
powerlessness, 35, 61–62
pregnancy, 21
privilege, 49, 53, 63
prostitution, 42
racial blindness, 63
racial difference, 11. See also difference
feminism and, 39–43
racial distortions, 53
racial intermarriage, 48–49
racial violence, 61, 152, 156, 158. See also police brutality
racism, 39, 40, 43, 69–71, 79–80, 92, 119–20, 175
american, 68–69
anger and, 53–65
battling, 149
definition of, 53
depersonalization of, 11
at First International Feminist Bookfair, 95–96
institutionalized, 77
racist attitudes, 53–54
racist feminism, 42
surviving, 144
white women and, 55, 57
women and, 53–65
rage, 46, 147. See also anger
Raja, 98
Rangitunoa, 140
rape, 20–21, 22, 46, 50, 103
Rastafarianism, 170
Reaganomics, 156
responsibility, collective, 12, 106–7
Returning Woman Newsletter, 109
Rich, Adrienne, 42–43, 123
Rios, Yolanda (Yoli), 77
Rita, 137–38
Rogers, Gwendolyn, 79
Rosenberg, Dr., 91, 93, 94, 95
Rudolf Steiner schools, 112
Rukeyser, Muriel, 81
Ruth, 135
Samoan women, 140–41
Sapphire Sapphos, 82, 84
satisfaction, sense of, 30, 31
scrutiny, fear of, 13
the sea, 127–28
Seboulisa, 143, 158
segregation, 68, 69–71
self, sense of, 30
self-abnegation, 32, 35
self-assertion, 49
self-connection, 33
self-destructiveness, 152
self-determination, 12, 82
self-hypnosis, 161
self-love, 48, 161
self-monitoring, 158
self-revelation, 11
self-value, 48
sensation, 30
the sensual, 32–33
sex, 20–21, 22, 31
sexism, 39, 45–51
the sexual, 32
sexualities, Black women organizing across, 73–80
Shange, Ntozake, 46
silence, 40, 152–53, 160
breaking silence about bodies and health, 151
immobilization by, 14
transformation into language and action, 9–14
tyrannies of, 10–11
SISA. See Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa
sisterhood, 12, 36, 46, 47, 56–57, 58, 60, 61, 64, 73–80, 103, 105–6
Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa, 110, 133, 152
Sister Outsider collective, 93–94
Smith, Barbara, 79, 139
Smith, Bessie, 78
socialism, 50
Sofia, 137
Sojourner Sisters, 88, 129
souse, 17–19, 20, 23–24
South Africa, 78, 91–92, 132, 152, 158
South Africans, 103
South African women, 93–94, 133–39
South Pacific, 141
Soweto, South Africa, 91, 106, 135, 152
spirituality, 32–33, 155–56
Staples, Robert, 45, 46, 47, 48, 51
St. Croix, Virgin Islands, 128–32
Steiner, Rudolf, 112, 116
stereotyping, 53, 79–80
Stetson, Erlene, 106
stoicism, 151
strength, difference as, 41–42
stress, Black women and, 158
Sula, 136
the sun, 127–28
survival, 13, 63, 64, 82, 85, 95, 106, 131, 160
in america, 11–12
Black women and, 156
commitment and, 92
mothers’ voices of, 128
not an academic skill, 41–42
surviving cancer, 144, 155
surviving racism, 144
Terms of Endearment, 161–62
Terrell, Mary Church, 61
Thembi (Alice), 135
thinking, vs. feeling, 5–7
Third World People’s Center, 92
Third World women, 39, 40
Tiamat, 158
“The Ties That Bind” conference, 129–30
Tougaloo Choir, 83, 130
Tougaloo College, 77, 83
transition, 164
truth, 12–13, 84
Ujima, 12
Ulluru, 141
Umoja, 12
uncertainty, learning to live with, 163
the unintentional, 31
unity, 12
victim blaming, 47
victimization, 47
Victoria, Australia, celebration of founding of, 102–3
violence, 61, 152, 156, 158. See also police brutality
Virgin Gorda, 167–68
Virgin Islands, 167–71
visibility, 11–12, 84
of Black women, 11
fear of, 11, 13
visualization, of battles with cancer, 163–64
Washington, D.C., 82
Fourth of July in, 67–71
Wassa, 138–39
West Indies, 15
white america, mistakes of, 49
white feminism, 42–43, 45–51
white women
Black women and, 54–65, 95–96, 97
married to black men, 48–49
racism and, 55, 57
women of Color and, 95–96
Williams, Dessima, 129
Wilson, Angela, 64
Wolf, Christa, 94–95
Wolpert, Betty, 134
woman-hating, 49, 50, 51
womanness, 74
women. See also specific groups
in the academy, 56
accused of being too “visceral,” 50
anger and, 53–65
defined as acceptable, 41
difference between, 40–41
empowered, 31
hatred of, 58
lifeforce of, 32
mutuality between, 40
oppression of, 35
places of power within, 3–4
poetry as necessity for, 4
power and, 30
racism and, 59
strength of, 62
violence against, 46, 50–51, 78
woman energy, 76
woman-hating, 49, 50, 51
womanness, 74
women-identified, 40
women of Color, 42, 56, 60, 103, 140. See also specific groups
anger and, 59–60, 62
in Germany, 89
lesbians, 63
reclaiming by, 106
white women and, 95–96
women’s culture, 39
women’s movement, 11, 54
Women’s Studies programs, 54
work
collective, 12
the erotic and, 31–32
World War II, 34
Wurundjeri women, 104
Yolanda, 110
Yoli, 141
Zamani Soweto Sisters, 133, 134, 136, 137, 138, 139