Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology [Paperback]

This book helped me to expand my knowledge and my appreciation for black feminist thought, especially for black, lesbian, radical feminist thought. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to figure out how to reconcile their fight against racism with their battles against sexism and homophobia, within their own communities. Fifteen and twenty years ago, these women were already finding answers...so we can too!

Barbara Smith also edited But Some Of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women's Studies.

This 1983 collection includes contributions from writers/artists such as Gloria T. Hull, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Pat Parker, and Alice Walker.

She wrote in the Introduction, "'Home Girls' has been a long time coming... I wanted the new anthology to represent Black feminism at the present time and to retain its literary focus... It joins a growing body of work by Black and other Third World women that addresses issues of sexual politics... I hope that 'Home Girls' will inspire each of you to think deeply and to read more about Third World women than this book can contain. I sincerely hope that 'Home Girls' is upsetting, because being upset is often the first step toward change."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"The concept of the black family has been exploited since the publication of the infamous Moynihan report... Because the insular, privatized nuclear family is upheld as the model of Western family stability, all other forms---for example, the extended family, the female-headed family, the lesbian family---are devalued." (Pg. 200)
"bell hooks' Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism ... seems to purposely ignore the existence and central contributions of black lesbians in the feminist movement... the most resounding shortcoming of this work ... is its omission of any discussion of lesbian feminism... hooks does not even mention the word 'lesbian' in her book. This is unbearable. Ain't lesbians women, too?" (Pg. 205)
"Many Black Lesbians still identify the feminist movement with white women and they have real problems with white women." (Pg. 301)
"I don't think it's correct to describe the insensitivities we may exhibit toward each other as racist. Racism is not a personal affliction. It's a system of attitudes and behaviors. It's institutionalized and is a means to justify exploitation. We as Black people do not have at our disposal the means to enforce a system of superiority and exploitation." (Pg. 316)
"And you became aware of that you tried to talk to these movement people about how you felt. And they say, 'Let's take that up next week. Because the most important thing now is that Black people are being oppressed and we must work with that.' Watch these mono-issue people. They ain't gonna do you no good." (Pg. 362)

I remember when this anthology was first released; this copy is my replacement copy. It was an interesting read and stands the test of time. I was in my twenties and now 30 years later I can see how the future Smith championed has come to fruition. It is worth having on one's book shelf.