Reveals a remarkable woman’s life and her contributions to social justice movements related to Civil Rights, feminism, lesbian and gay liberation, anti-racism, and Black feminism.
As an organizer, writer, publisher, scholar-activist, and elected official, Barbara Smith has played key roles in multiple social justice movements, including Civil Rights, feminism, lesbian and gay liberation, anti-racism, and Black feminism. Her four decades of grassroots activism forged collaborations that introduced the idea that oppression must be fought on a variety of fronts simultaneously, including gender, race, class, and sexuality. By combining hard-to-find historical documents with new unpublished interviews with fellow activists, this book uncovers the deep roots of today’s “identity politics” and “intersectionality” and serves as an essential primer for practicing solidarity and resistance.
“Barbara Smith is a creator of modern feminism as a writer, organizer, editor, publisher, and scholar. Now she has added to her decades as an activist outside the system by becoming an elected official who truly listens, represents, and creates bridges to a common good. She has shown us that democracy is a seed that can only be planted where we are.” — Gloria Steinem
“Barbara Smith is one of the grand pioneering and prophetic voices of our time. Her truth still hurts and heals!” — Cornel West
“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around is not a memoir, a biography, nor a reader. It is a reflection and a conversation. It is also a montage of forty years of documents, interviews, and articles that provide useful lessons for social justice work. This book is a tour de force that documents the life’s work of Barbara Smith and the freedom struggles she shaped.” — Duchess Harris, author of Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Obama
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
List of Illustrations
xv
Foreword xvii
Robin D. G. Kelley
Preface xxiii
Barbara Smith
Acknowledgments xxv
1 Chronicling an Activist Life
1 (12)
Virginia Eubanks
Alethia Jones
2 Home Grown: Early Roots of Activism
13 (28)
Roots of Beloved Community
14 (12)
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project (Smith and Ross 2003)
14 (7)
Barbara Smith
Loretta Ross
Interview
21 (1)
Barbara Ransby
Box: "Klunder, Bruce W.," The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1997)
22 (4)
College Life and Activism
26 (9)
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project (Smith and Ross 2003)
26 (2)
Barbara Smith
Loretta Ross
Interviews
28 (7)
Barbara Ransby
Matt Richardson
Alethia Jones
What Would It Mean to Be a Lesbian?
35 (6)
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project (Smith and Ross 2003)
36 (1)
Barbara Smith
Loretta Ross
"Taking the Home Out of Homophobia: Black Lesbian Health,"
37 (1)
Jewelle Gomez
Barbara Smith
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project (Smith and Ross 2003)
38 (3)
Barbara Smith
Loretta Ross
3 Building Black Feminism
41 (56)
A New Era of Black Feminism
42 (18)
Interview
43 (1)
Virginia Eubanks
"National Black Feminist Organization Statement of Purpose," National Black Feminist Organization (1973)
44 (1)
"The Combahee River Collective Statement," Combahee River Collective ([1977] 1979)
45 (7)
Interviews
52 (8)
Kimberly Springer
Barbara Ransby
Alethia Jones
Virginia Eubanks
Black Feminist Organizing Tactics
60 (14)
"Black Feminism: A Movement of Our Own,"
61 (4)
Barbara Smith
"Who Is Killing Us,"
65 (6)
Terrion Williamson
Interview
71 (3)
Kimberly Springer
Building Linkages across Difference
74 (9)
"Face-to-Face, Day-to-Day---Racism CR [Consciousness Raising] Guidelines for Women's Groups,"
74 (3)
Tia Cross
Freada Klein
Barbara Smith
Beverly Smith
"Breaking the Silence: A Conversation in Black and White,"
77 (5)
Laura Sperazi
Interview
82 (1)
Virginia Eubanks
Unfinished Business
83 (14)
"Establishing Black Feminism,"
84 (4)
Barbara Smith
Box: "African American Women in Defense of Ourselves,"
88 (2)
Elsa Barkley Brown
Deborah K. King
Barbara Ransby
"Black Women Still in Defense of Ourselves,"
90 (1)
Kimberle Williams Crenshaw
Interviews
91 (6)
Kimberly Springer
Virginia Eubanks
Alethia Jones
4 Building Black Women's Studies
97 (42)
More Than Academic
98 (17)
"Doing Research on Black American Women, or; All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave,"
99 (1)
Barbara Smith
"The Politics of Black Women's Studies,"
100 (6)
Gloria Hull
Barbara Smith
" `Beautiful, Needed, Mysterious': Review of Sula by Toni Morrison,"
106 (3)
Barbara Smith
Interview
109 (6)
Beverly Guy-Sheftall
"Irrevocable Acts": Navigating Dangerous Waters
115 (17)
"Black Women Writers and Feminism: Toward a Black Feminist Criticism" (Bowles 1979)
115 (10)
"Black Women Writers and Feminism Question & Answer Session" (Bowles 1979)
125 (4)
Interview
129 (3)
Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Truth Telling in the Academy
132 (7)
"Racism and Women's Studies,"
133 (3)
Barbara Smith
Interview
136 (3)
Virginia Eubanks
5 Building Kitchen Table Press
139 (34)
Black in Print
141 (11)
"Black Women and Publishing," Modern Language Association Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession (1976)
141 (3)
"Our Stories: Women of Color,"
144 (2)
Barbara Smith
Interview
146 (6)
Matt Richardson
Our Books Were Lifelines
152 (14)
"A Press of Our Own: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press,"
153 (3)
Barbara Smith
Interviews
156 (1)
Matt Richardson
Barbara Ransby
Kimberly Springer
Box: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press titles 1983--1992 and The Freedom Organizing Pamphlet Series
157 (9)
The Cost of Independence
166 (7)
"Packing Boxes and Editing Manuscripts: Women of Color in Feminist Publishing," Sojourner Editorial Collective (1993)
166 (3)
Interview
169 (4)
Matt Richardson
6 Building Multi-Issue Movements
173 (40)
Forging Coalitions: Fighting Homophobia, Racism, and Classism
174 (29)
"Soul on Hold,"
175 (4)
Barbara Smith
"Blacks and Gays: Healing the Great Divide,"
179 (5)
Barbara Smith
"Where Has Gay Liberation Gone? An Interview
184 (3)
Barbara Smith
Amy Gluckman
Betsy Reed
"Will People of Color Pay the Price? A Statement by People of Color in Support of the Ad Hoc Committee for an Open Process,"
187 (2)
Ted Beck
Mandy Carter
Chandra L. Ford
Kara Keeling
Barbara Smith
"Organizing in Albany: Justice for Diallo,"
189 (2)
Barbara Smith
Interviews
191 (5)
Joo-Hyun Kang
Kimberly Springer
Box: "Please Don't Fan Flames of Bigotry,"
196 (1)
Barbara Smith
Box: "It's a Diverse World, and That Includes Sexuality,"
197 (2)
Barbara Smith
"A New LGBT Politics Seeks to Marry Issues, Not Just People,"
199 (4)
Jamilah King
Embraced by the Black Radical Congress
203 (10)
"The Struggle Continues: Setting a Black Liberation Agenda for the 21st Century: Call for Participation in the Black Radical Congress," BRC Organizing Committee (1998)
203 (1)
"Dialogue between Barbara Smith and Kimberly Springer," Democracy Now! (1998)
204 (1)
Box: "Black Radical Congress Principles of Unity," BRC Organizing Committee (1998)
205 (3)
Interviews
208 (5)
Barbara Ransby
Alethia Jones
7 Building Progressive Urban Politics
213 (40)
A Movement Builder on the Campaign Trail
214 (9)
"Black Feminist Activism: My Next Chapter,"
214 (2)
Barbara Smith
Interviews
216 (7)
Vera "Mike" Michelson
Joo-Hyun Kang
In the Belly of the Beast
223 (18)
Interviews
223 (1)
Vera "Mike" Michelson
Alethia Jones
Virginia Eubanks
Box: Flyer for Albany Neighborhoods First
224 (6)
Box: "WAMC Commentary on Gun Violence,"
230 (2)
Barbara Smith
Box: SNUG rally flyer
232 (8)
Box: "WAMC Commentary on Education,"
240 (1)
Barbara Smith
Radical Visions versus Reformist Institutions
241 (12)
Interviews
241 (4)
Alethia Jones
Vera "Mike" Michelson
Barbara Ransby
Virginia Eubanks
Box: Peace and Unity Resolution
245 (1)
Box: Immigrant Rights Resolution
246 (7)
8 "Took Root, Bore Fruit": Legacies and Futures of a Black Feminist Life
253 (40)
Sheroes and Foremothers
254 (9)
Interview
254 (2)
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Box: University of Alabama letter from Robin Boylorn
256 (4)
Box: "Ella's Daughters' Seven Sisters Campaign," Ella's Daughters (n.d.)
260 (3)
The Legacy of Kitchen Table Press and Black Women's Studies
263 (5)
Interview
263 (3)
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Box: University of Alabama letter from Lisa C. Moore
266 (1)
Box: University of Alabama letter from Sheri Davis-Faulkner
267 (1)
The Legacy of Combahee: Identity Politics and Interlocking Oppressions
268 (9)
Interview
268 (2)
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Box: "What Sistas Want, What Sistas Believe: Black Feminist Twelve Point Plan," Black Feminist Working Group (2011)
270 (1)
Interviews
271 (6)
Virginia Eubanks
Alethia Jones
The Legacy of Combahee's Organizing: Coalitions for Conscious Collective Solutions
277 (10)
Interview
277 (4)
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Box: "UBUNTU Statement of Purpose," UBUNTU (2012)
281 (3)
"Occupy Wall Street: Black Voices for Economic Justice Must Be Heard," Ron Daniels (n.d.)
284 (3)
Black Feminist Futures
287 (6)
Interviews
287 (3)
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Alethia Jones
Virginia Eubanks
Box: "Crunk Letter to Patriarchy," Crunk Feminist Collective (2012)
290 (3)
Editorial Note 293 (2)
How We Built This Book 295 (2)
Bibliography 297 (10)
Interviews Commissioned for This Volume 307 (2)
Interviewer and Contributor Biographies 309 (4)
Index 313
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