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36th out of 580 books
—
753 voters
This Bridge Called My Back
This groundbreaking collection reflects an uncompromised definition of feminism by women of color. 65,000 copies in print.
Paperback, 261 pages
Published
February 28th 1984
by Kitchen Table--Women of Color Press
(first published 1981)
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Without getting too personal, I have to admit I grew up with identity issues.I guess most women of colour living in the West do have such moments, especially seeing as how we are under-represented in many areas of society. Not only that, we also have to contend with stereotypes and being caught between cultures. As such, this book was very important to me. It is an anthology featuring different types of works (poems, speeches, short stories) by gay and straight women of colour (African-American,...more
20 likes · like · see review
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don't try to read queer theory or anything on your gender studies syllabus without reading this book first. because that shit all came from this shit, no matter what all the white queer theorists try to tell you.
but seriously. theoretically, the trajectory is there. these women came up with what we all now understand as the reality that multiplicity is how each of us navigate the world (ok some other folks did it too, for sure) and those multiplicities occur simultaneously, both internally and e...more
but seriously. theoretically, the trajectory is there. these women came up with what we all now understand as the reality that multiplicity is how each of us navigate the world (ok some other folks did it too, for sure) and those multiplicities occur simultaneously, both internally and e...more
Jan 03, 2010
Meen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
It is required reading for humanity.
Recommended to Meen by:
Allan G. Johnson in Power, Privilege, & Difference
More than any other I've ever read, this book changed my life.
3 likes · like · see review
Even the revised and updated 2002 version is hard to find, but I would encourage everyone to seek out a copy of this book because the strength, fire and passion of the writing is not to be missed. Everything these women write is still pertinent today - about the intersectionality of oppressions, the racism in the white feminist movement, the crucial need for solidarity across race, class, and gender lines . . . . I think this book should be required reading in all women's studies classes.
This is a book I will always be reading, when I'm not lending it out. Way fucking radical, this collection of essays from amazing strong women folk explores race, sexuality, language, love, hate and discrimination. The editors, Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga, are two of my favorite writers. They put my experience, fears and hopes into words. Ladies of color this ones for you, even if like me you only have some color. This book changed my life. I would also recommend this to white people, but...more
4 likes · like · see review
Jan 31, 2009
Claire S
marked it as to-read
This book made a big impression on me when I was assigned it, during my Women's Studies period. The central idea - that people in the majority culture are responsible for their own education regarding people in other cultures - has stayed with me. The inherent anger, or something like anger, maybe simply self-assertion? - of it has also remained. I kind of assign that same stance to people I come across, without it necessarily being valid. I also haven't read it all, probably just one or two sel...more
Teton County Library Call No: Must be ILLed
Marisa's rating: 4 stars
This is a unique book covering some feminist topics not covered in the standard reader. While it is a bit old, it contains several essays by feminists of color discussing their experience, racism, poverty, the prevalence of racism in the feminist movement in the early 1980s and most importantly the individual experiences of asian pacific, black, american indian and latina/chicana women. I found this extremely interesting as well...more
Marisa's rating: 4 stars
This is a unique book covering some feminist topics not covered in the standard reader. While it is a bit old, it contains several essays by feminists of color discussing their experience, racism, poverty, the prevalence of racism in the feminist movement in the early 1980s and most importantly the individual experiences of asian pacific, black, american indian and latina/chicana women. I found this extremely interesting as well...more
Prior to reading this book, I knew that it was an important anthology, not just in terms of feminism and racial identity, but from a "first of its kind" historical standpoint as well, and so while I was keen to read the book, I was also a bit anxious that I wouldn't "get" it or fully appreciate it, or that I'd find it too dry and have to force myself to finish it etc. I'm happy to say that that wasn't the case. In fact it was a hard book to put down, and that's not praise I often give to a book,...more
Apr 14, 2009
Tinea
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Tinea by:
Otter
Shelves:
gender-sexuality,
race-and-racism
A great intro to intersectionality: how race, gender, sexuality, immigration status, language, and class interact with each other in the lives of women of color in the US. An anthology of personal experience in poems, theory, essays, letters, and interviews.
This book must have been groundbreaking when it came out in 1981. The authors repeatedly write about how they could find nothing in contemporary literature on race and gender that spoke to the complexities of oppression and resistance in thei...more
This book must have been groundbreaking when it came out in 1981. The authors repeatedly write about how they could find nothing in contemporary literature on race and gender that spoke to the complexities of oppression and resistance in thei...more
Identity politics examined. Womyn of Color from the 1960s and 70s share their perspective on life and the struggle of the movement. Absolutely on of my guides to finding myself and place in the US. It's a book that leads to discoveries and confirmations of self.
Must read for any womyn of color.
Must read for any womyn of color.
Feb 09, 2010
Mattilda
added it
My favorite piece is the conversation between twin sisters Beverly and Barbara Smith -- all the layers of complexity, understanding, awareness, and even hints of conflict and contradiction! And that’s the amazing thing about the book -- that the whole thing functions as an extended conversation between radical women of color, and reading it we got to sense, experience, question, gasping in awareness and expression, the way the essays sometimes read like poetry and the poetry like essays and the...more
1 like · like · see review
This book is the single most important book in the feminist canon. Read it now.
For some reason I went into this thinking it was some sort of feminist manifesto, but it's an anthology of experiences of women of color, told through essays, poetry, biography and only sometimes political manifesto. It focuses particularly on experiences in feminism and those interpreted through feminist ideas but the focus is by no means exclusive. It has some limitations within its remit such as those mentioned in the introduction - eg limited to the US, almost exclusively talks about lesbian...more
(10/10) Essay collections are usually pretty perfunctory as books -- there may be good pieces in them, but the book itself is just a containing mechanism. This is the exception. Somehow or other all of the different perspectives or different styles come together to form a beautiful, multifaceted whole. Poetry merges with memoir merges with theory to create something that feels like the only real way to express and interrogate impression. The different perspectives, far from diluting the book, he...more
Teton County Library Call No: Must be ILLed
This is a unique book covering some feminist topics not covered in the standard reader. While it is a bit old, it contains several essays by feminists of color discussing their experience, racism, poverty, the prevalence of racism in the feminist movement in the early 1980s and most importantly the individual experiences of asian pacific, black, american indian and latina/chicana women. I found this extremely interesting as well as startling. It once ag...more
This is a unique book covering some feminist topics not covered in the standard reader. While it is a bit old, it contains several essays by feminists of color discussing their experience, racism, poverty, the prevalence of racism in the feminist movement in the early 1980s and most importantly the individual experiences of asian pacific, black, american indian and latina/chicana women. I found this extremely interesting as well as startling. It once ag...more
This Bridge Called My Back is, unquestionably, one of the most influential books of my life. It would be an impossible task to attempt to quantify what I experienced/got/learned from this book. That being said:
This Bridge Called My Back is an anthology of essays, theory,fiction, poetry, and the fusion of all four written by radical women of color. The analysis and honesty with which this book is written creates an endless source of reflection, lesson and/or connection.
Although this book came ou...more
This Bridge Called My Back is an anthology of essays, theory,fiction, poetry, and the fusion of all four written by radical women of color. The analysis and honesty with which this book is written creates an endless source of reflection, lesson and/or connection.
Although this book came ou...more
Oct 03, 2007
Megan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
non-fiction,
poetry,
activism,
politics,
cultural-studies-and-anthropology,
race,
gender,
favorites
A challenging collection of essays, poems, and writings from third world women/women of color in the U.S.
The writers address the racism present in the women's movement at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as discuss the challenges they face as women of color in the U.S. and as feminists (and/or lesbians) in their communities of color.
Many of the pieces are moving; some are anger-inspiring (sometimes in solidarity with the authors, sometimes against the authors); and almost all led me...more
The writers address the racism present in the women's movement at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as discuss the challenges they face as women of color in the U.S. and as feminists (and/or lesbians) in their communities of color.
Many of the pieces are moving; some are anger-inspiring (sometimes in solidarity with the authors, sometimes against the authors); and almost all led me...more
If you've done *any* thinking/learning about Feminism in the US, you will have come across women of color who have attested to the exclusionary (white-privileged, -centered) nature of the movement through the ages. If you are in any way confused as to why this is, read this book.
"This Bridge..." incorporates incisive analysis, wandering prose, poetry, correspondence, and theatre written by Black, Latina/Chicana, Asian, & Native women in the US -- many of whom are queer. Though published in...more
"This Bridge..." incorporates incisive analysis, wandering prose, poetry, correspondence, and theatre written by Black, Latina/Chicana, Asian, & Native women in the US -- many of whom are queer. Though published in...more
How long can you wait to become yourself? You are always becoming and rebecoming... unless we area working hard to not become ourselves. Unfortunately many make this the work of their lives. Truths in all its skins and shapes are hard to face. And this is why I am so thankful for This Bridge Called My Back and all womyn and people who are who they are, despite living in a world well bread with fear and hostility toward difference. sigue adelante.
Aug 26, 2008
Jude
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Jude by:
gifts of athena bookstore
thanks to mindy for calling this book back for me. time to re-read.
Many years ago this was the primary textbook i went to when the message that i (and other well intentioned white women) got from the women of color in our community was: "Look. Racism is your construct. You wanna understand it, do the work. We do not owe you an education." I mean of course they DID educate and explain and challenge and sigh and laugh and get fed up, etc etc. But i learned the real nature of respect from their nam...more
Many years ago this was the primary textbook i went to when the message that i (and other well intentioned white women) got from the women of color in our community was: "Look. Racism is your construct. You wanna understand it, do the work. We do not owe you an education." I mean of course they DID educate and explain and challenge and sigh and laugh and get fed up, etc etc. But i learned the real nature of respect from their nam...more
I am thrilled I picked up this book, because the voices represented in it - Asian-American, Chicana, Native-American, lesbian, and so on - are absolutely incendiary. Hallelujah to my finally discovering a collection of thoughtful writings by minority women (though the onus is on me now to find literature from Southeast Asian females, who I have to imagine have a limited body of work).
Overall, a good primer for me on some problems in feminism, as well as a rousing anthology of underrepresented, e...more
Overall, a good primer for me on some problems in feminism, as well as a rousing anthology of underrepresented, e...more
Worthwhile read to contextualize and theorize immigrant borderlands; reading this is definitely a good way to understand the issues that have gone unnoticed for so long. But geez, lay of the white hate -- not all white people are automatically untrustworthy simply because lots of white people were bad years ago. All the scapegoating is not only a turnoff, but it's blatant hypocrisy that works against everything Moraga/Anzaldua/others were trying to accomplish.
Wow - what a stunning and important collection of essays, poetry and short stories. A difficult, but necessary read for those who seek to better understand race, culture, class and gender in America.
I plan on adding this work to any American women's fiction class I teach and there are some fantastic passages about the writing process that I will give to my Creative Writing students. Thanks to Parker for suggesting this book.
I plan on adding this work to any American women's fiction class I teach and there are some fantastic passages about the writing process that I will give to my Creative Writing students. Thanks to Parker for suggesting this book.
I was introduced to this book in one of my women's studies classes in college (thank you Dr. Lemons, who also has a book called Black Male Outsider, check it out!) This book was one of the first books to house writings from women of color regarding feminism. Well worth the read and a must have for anyone interested in identity politics, queer theory or just a good read!
This Bridge Called My Back is an (sort of) essential anthology to understand where feminism is today; because of its importance, I rated the book much higher than I actually felt about the it. I'm not a fan of most poetry, and the pieces in the book did not change my inclinations. Also, the book is mostly reactionary to the racism in the second wave. The contributors are great in calling out middle class white women's poor (or non-existent) racial analysis, but many fail to recognize that not al...more
I remember vividly when this book was recommended to me by several older women I knew when I was a young activist in high school. When I read it, it really changed my world. There aren't a lot of books that do that. A classic that should be read by everyone who cares about the world.
I haven't read it in years, but I intend to go back to it. It's the 21st century, yet this book is still relevant...because I am still one of the few Black women friends that my White friends have. Seriously? I'm nearly fifty. I'm not angry, but a sister sure is getting tired.
'we have learned to live with these contradictions. this is the root of our radicalism.'
i have meant to find this book for so long, and finally got it from the public library. hidden in the stacks, no creases, i wish i could send this to so many people. find it.
i need these reminders, when my days aren't oriented around reading theory and stories...
i keep meaning to write a zine or essay about my radicalness around my mixed background and my experience as a woman of color who passes very frequen...more
i have meant to find this book for so long, and finally got it from the public library. hidden in the stacks, no creases, i wish i could send this to so many people. find it.
i need these reminders, when my days aren't oriented around reading theory and stories...
i keep meaning to write a zine or essay about my radicalness around my mixed background and my experience as a woman of color who passes very frequen...more
Nov 23, 2011
Deja .
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorites,
law-and-social-justice
Two amazing things that have always stuck with me from this:
The masters tools can never dismantle the masters house (from Audre Lorde) and
and The Bridge Poem (go read it) on the importance that we educate ourselves rather than also require others to be the bridge
The masters tools can never dismantle the masters house (from Audre Lorde) and
and The Bridge Poem (go read it) on the importance that we educate ourselves rather than also require others to be the bridge
Jul 11, 2010
Nisha
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
favourite,
autobiographical,
multiple-authors,
black-feminism,
feminism,
sexuality,
non-fiction,
poetry,
to-buy
one of the best books i have ever read. really beautiful and with contributions by so many amazing women. this was a library book, but i'll have to get my own copy, and i know it will be well worn.
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“I am what I am and you can't take it away with all the words and sneers at your command.”
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6 people liked it
“I am a woman with a foot in both worlds; and I refuse the split. I feel the necessity for dialogue. Sometimes I feel it urgently.”
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2 people liked it
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