Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around: forty years of movement building with Barbara Smith

356 Pages·2014·6.123 MB·English

by  Eubanks, Virginia;Jones, Alethia;Smith, Barbara

AIN’T GONNA
LET NOBODY
TURN ME
AROUND
SUNY series in New Political Science
Bradley J. Macdonald, editor
AIN’T GONNA
LET NOBODY
TURN ME
AROUND
Forty Years of
Movement Building with
BARBARA SMITH
Edited by
Alethia Jones
and
Virginia Eubanks
with
Barbara Smith
Cover photo of Barbara Smith by Vicki Smith.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2014 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Ryan Morris
Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building
with Barbara Smith / Alethia Jones and Virginia Eubanks, eds., with Barbara Smith
ISBN 978-1-4384-5115-2 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5114-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5116-9 (ebook)
2014947017
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
From Alethia
For my mother, grandmother, and Angela and the sacrifices they made.
For my sister, Tamara, if only . . .
From Virginia
For my second family, the feminist activist community of the Capital Region
of New York, for their integrity, fearlessness, and compassion.
From Barbara
For my sister, Beverly, and everyone who takes a stand for justice.

Contents
List of Illustrations xv
Foreword by Robin D. G. Kelley xvii
Preface by Barbara Smith xxiii
Acknowledgments xxv
1. Chronicling an Activist Life 1
Virginia Eubanks and Alethia Jones
2. Home Grown: Early Roots of Activism 13
Roots of Beloved Community 14
• Barbara Smith, “Interview by Loretta Ross,” 14
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project
(Smith and Ross 2003)
• Interview with Barbara Ransby 21
• Box: “Klunder, Bruce W.,” The Encyclopedia of 22
Cleveland History (1997)
College Life and Activism 26
• Barbara Smith, “Interview by Loretta Ross,” 26
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project
(Smith and Ross 2003)
• Interviews with Barbara Ransby, Matt Richardson, 28
and Alethia Jones
vii
viii Contents
What Would It Mean to Be a Lesbian? 35
• Barbara Smith, “Interview by Loretta Ross,” 36
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project (Smith and Ross 2003)
• “Taking the Home Out of Homophobia: Black Lesbian 37
Health,” Jewelle Gomez and Barbara Smith (1990)
• Barbara Smith, “Interview by Loretta Ross,” Voices of 38
Feminism Oral History Project (Smith and Ross 2003)
3. Building Black Feminism 41
A New Era of Black Feminism 42
• Interview with Virginia Eubanks 43
• “ National Black Feminist Organization Statement 44
of Purpose,” National Black Feminist Organization (1973)
• “ The Combahee River Collective Statement,” 45
Combahee River Collective ([1977] 1979)
• Interviews with Kimberly Springer, Barbara Ransby, 52
Alethia Jones, and Virginia Eubanks
Black Feminist Organizing Tactics 60
• “ Black Feminism: A Movement of Our Own,” 61
Barbara Smith ([1984] 1997)
• “Who Is Killing Us,” Terrion Williamson (2012) 65
• Interview with Kimberly Springer 71
Building Linkages across Difference 74
• “ Face-to-Face, Day-to-Day—Racism CR [Consciousness 74
Raising] Guidelines for Women’s Groups,” Tia Cross,
Freada Klein, Barbara Smith, and Beverly Smith (1979)
• “ Breaking the Silence: A Conversation in 77
Black and White,” Laura Sperazi (1978)
• Interview with Virginia Eubanks 82
Contents ix
Unfinished Business 83
• “Establishing Black Feminism,” Barbara Smith (2000) 84
• Box: “African American Women in Defense of Ourselves,” 88
Elsa Barkley Brown, Deborah K. King, and Barbara Ransby
(1991)
• “Black Women Still in Defense of Ourselves,” 90
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (2011)
• Interviews with Kimberly Springer, Virginia Eubanks, 91
and Alethia Jones
4. Building Black Women’s Studies 97
More Than Academic 98
• “ Doing Research on Black American Women, or; 99
All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men,
But Some of Us Are Brave,” Barbara Smith (1975)
• “ The Politics of Black Women’s Studies,” 100
Gloria Hull and Barbara Smith (1982)
• “‘ Beautiful, Needed, Mysterious’: Review of Sula 106
by Toni Morrison,” Barbara Smith (1974)
• Interview with Beverly Guy-Sheftall 109
“Irrevocable Acts”: Navigating Dangerous Waters 115
• “ Black Women Writers and Feminism: Toward a 115
Black Feminist Criticism” (Bowles 1979)
• “Black Women Writers and Feminism Question 125
& Answer Session” (Bowles 1979)
• Interview with Beverly Guy-Sheftall 129
Truth Telling in the Academy 132
• “Racism and Women’s Studies,” Barbara Smith (1980) 133
• Interview with Virginia Eubanks 136