Barbara Smith (1946 - )

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The Truth That Never Hurts : Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom by Barbara Smith

Barbara Smith writes brilliantly about the black lesbian literary tradition. For anyone who wants an overview of almost 30 years of activism, this is the book for you. Her essays on black lesbian fiction were touching. My favorite essay was was the elegiac "We Must Always Bury Our Dead Twice: A Tribute To James Baldwin." Smith shockingly revealed that at Baldwin's funeral, his gayness was completely covered up, by all African-American activists present at the services. The homophobia is unspeakable. She is less convincing in her tired attacks on capitalism. In this, she seemed like the proverbial dated 60s rebel. Her bravest revelations concerned the terrible monetary price to be paid for founding Kitchen Table Press. Perhaps the Marxism comes in when people can't make a business profitable. One wonders why more black sisters didn't cough up the money, so she could continue to publish books, so valuable to the lesbian and gay community. Her 90s essays were the most fun to read, and she really called phony white liberal gay organizations to task for not working at all with the Black Gay & Lesbian Leadership Forum. As Smith reminds us, we have a long way to go to end the isms and exclusion. I think she too gloomily thinks of coalitions as sober thankless tasks. It didn't fit with my experience of multiracial political activism, which I've always found uplifting and energizing. Young people wanting to move ahead might be discouraged by some of these essays. All will be enriched by this fascinating book. -- Anonymous Review

"Here's the Movement, Let's Start Building":  An interview with Barbara Smith 

B y Kim Diehl, Applied Research Center

Kim Diehl talks to black feminist pioneer Barbara Smith about the racial politics of the Millennium March and the sexual politics of Anti-Racism.

Since the 1960s, Barbara Smith's ideas, courage, and spirit have infused social justice work in this country.

At a time when being a black feminist--let alone an out black lesbian like Barbara--was politically and personally perilous, Barbara cofounded the groundbreaking Combahee River Collective more than 25 years ago. The black feminist group took its name from the South Carolina river that was the site of a military action led by Harriet Tubman that freed hundreds of slaves. Barbara also cofounded the legendary Kitchen Table Press and edited such landmark books as All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, but Some of Us are Brave (with Gloria T. Hull and Patricia Bell Scott) and Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology which is recently republished. Her latest book is The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom.

In an interview conducted after the Amadou Diallo murder trial, during the week of protests against the IMF and World Bank, and in the wake of the widely criticized Millennium March on Washington, Barbara Smith critiques the racial politics of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement and calls on activists of color to examine how homophobia and sexism undermine our freedom struggles...

Barbara Smith on Race and 'Theory'

Barbara Smith's new book brings her '70s activism into the '90s

By Michael Bronski, The Boston Phoenix, February 1999

Barbara Smith, a writer, artist, and political thinker who's been at the forefront of discussions about race, gender, and sexuality in both the queer and African-American communities, recently published a new collection of essays, The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom...

Definition of Feminism

 By Barbara Smith

Excerpt:

"Feminism is the political theory and practice that struggles to free *all* women: women of color, working class women, poor women, Jewish women, disabled women, lesbians, old women--as well as white, economically privileged, heterosexual women. Anything less than this vision of total freedom is not feminism, but merely female self-aggrandizement."

This definition takes into account the need to eradicate all the forms of oppression that affect all women such as racism, class oppression, and homophobia, not just gender-based oppression which would only free white, economically privileged, heterosexual women...

Names Index:
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| Authors Index | Scholars Index |