Women, Race, & Class

This book, or at least excerpts from it, should be a must read for everyone. Davis presents a side of the suffragette movement, the first wave of feminism, that many people will never be aware of--the conflict between women's rights and African American rights, and the underlying racism of the movement spearheaded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Davis then effectively juxtaposes the first wave of feminism with the second wave of feminism in the 1960-70's to show the correlation between the two movements. In both cases, the fight for African American rights took prescedence over the rights of women. While during the first wave of feminism, black women were ignored by the suffragettes, during the second wave of feminism, black women were faced with the choice of going forward in a women's movement that, once again, didn't really include them, or supporting the rights of African Americans as a race. A difficult choice. Davis clearly elucidates the failings of the both waves of feminism to include ALL women and shows how necessary it is for women, regardless of race, to work together.

If you are concerned about thedirection of the feminist movementin this country then, by all means add this book to your collection. Angela Davis is without equals in terms of herwriting. She examines the exploitation of the black womantracing the oppression back toslavery. If you havent already becomefamiliar with the writings ofAngela Davis. She is last greaticon of the black liberationmovement.

Ms. Davis is an excellent writer! This book can serve as a textbook or a book to highten your awareness into historical facts concerning race, class and gender. I bought this book in an attempt to carry on an intellectual conversation with other about the subject who were far more informed than I. As I read the book and talked with my friends, I realized that I was not only learning but understanding the information to the point where I could correlate my new found knowledge with other aspects of struggles for equality. I highly recommend this text - you won't be sorry.

If you are interested in an indepth analysis of the history of many of our current social movements this is the book for you. Angela Davis is brillient to be sure, but this book portrays her intelligence in understanding (and ability to convey) the conplex issues America must disern concerning gender, class and race. She also is able to articulate beautifully how these three issues intertwine. The book is worth the read for personal as well as acedemic growth.

Professor Davis provides a history of the Black, Women's and workers' movements in the US and documents the many points of common contact. She painstakingly supplies an abundance of historical evidence that demonstrates the fact that women, working people or people of color can only succeed in the attainment of their own liberation by working in conjuction with the efforts of the others. She also reminds us that the majority of women are workers and that the majority of people of color are workers, and points out that the outcome of the struggle these groups face will impact directly upon the future condition of all working people