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Combahee River Collective
The Combahee River Collective (CRC) (/kəmˈbiː/ kəm-BEE) was a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1974 to 1980. The Collective argued that both the white feminist movement and the Civil Rights Movement were not addressing their particular needs as Black women and more specifically as Black lesbians. Racism was present in the mainstream feminist movement, while Delaney and Manditch-Prottas argue that much of the Civil Rights Movement had a sexist and homophobic reputation. The Collective was a group that met to discuss the intersections of oppression based on race, gender, heteronormativity, and class and argued for the liberation of Black women on all fronts.
The Collective is perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement, a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of identity politics as used among political organizers and social theorists, and for introducing the concept of interlocking systems of oppression, including but not limited to gender, race, and sexuality, a fundamental concept of intersectionality. Gerald Izenberg credits the 1977 Combahee statement with the first usage of the phrase "identity politics". Through writing its statement, the CRC connected themselves to the activist tradition of Black women in the 19th century and to the struggles of Black liberation in the 1960s. The document embarked upon the separation of a gender-only focused feminism and highlighted the significance of interlocking systems of oppression.
Author Barbara Smith and other delegates attending the first (1973) regional meeting of the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) in New York City provided the groundwork for the Combahee River Collective with its efforts to build an NBFO Chapter in Boston. The NBFO was formed by Black feminists, Florynce Kennedy, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, and others, reacting to the failure of mainstream White feminist groups to respond to the racism that Black women faced in the United States. The organization sought to challenge the exclusion of Black women from mainstream feminist discourse and activism, which often prioritized the concerns and experiences of white women. It aimed to create a space where Black women's voices, perspectives, and issues could be centered and addressed. Members of the collective began the groundwork for the organization, believing that they were in need of more radical views in order to better address issues.
In her 2001 essay "From the Kennedy Commission to the Combahee Collective", historian and African American Studies professor Duchess Harris states that, in 1974 the Boston collective "observed that their vision for social change was more radical than the NBFO", and as a result, the group chose to strike out on its own as the Combahee River Collective. Members of the CRC, notably Barbara Smith and Demita Frazier, felt it was critical that the organization address the needs of Black lesbians, in addition to organizing on behalf of Black feminists.
The Collective's name was suggested by Smith, who owned a book called Harriet Tubman, Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Earl Conrad. She "wanted to name the collective after a historical event that was meaningful to African American women." Smith noted: "It was a way of talking about ourselves being on a continuum of Black struggle, of Black women's struggle." The name commemorated a military operation at the Combahee River planned and led by Harriet Tubman on June 2, 1863, in the Port Royal region of South Carolina. The action freed more than 750 slaves, and it is the only military campaign in American history planned and led by a woman.
The Combahee River Collective Statement was developed by a "collective of Black feminists...involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while...doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements..."
Members of the collective describe having a feeling of creating something which had not existed previously. Demita Frazier described the CRC's beginnings as "not a mix cake", meaning that the women involved had to create the meaning and purpose of the group "from scratch." In her 1995 essay "Doing it from Scratch: The Challenge of Black Lesbian Organizing", which borrows its title from Frazier's statement, Barbara Smith describes the early activities of the collective as "consciousness raising and political work on a multitude of issues", along with the building of "friendship networks, community and a rich Black women's culture where none had existed before."
The CRC sought to address the failures of organizations like the NBFO and build a collective statement to enable the analysis of capitalism's oppression of Black women, coming to the conclusion for a reformation to meet the needs for those significantly oppressed; and by doing this it would liberate everyone. This was not an academic exercise, rather the CRC sought to create a mechanism for Black women to engage in politics. The catalyst for this engagement were the failures of organizations like the NBFO to successfully address the oppression Black women faced on issues like sterilization, sexual assault, labor rights, and workplace rights. This alienation as well as the domination of the Black liberation movement by Black men, led members of the CRC to reimagine a politics that engaged these issues.
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Combahee River Collective
The Combahee River Collective (CRC) (/kəmˈbiː/ kəm-BEE) was a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1974 to 1980. The Collective argued that both the white feminist movement and the Civil Rights Movement were not addressing their particular needs as Black women and more specifically as Black lesbians. Racism was present in the mainstream feminist movement, while Delaney and Manditch-Prottas argue that much of the Civil Rights Movement had a sexist and homophobic reputation. The Collective was a group that met to discuss the intersections of oppression based on race, gender, heteronormativity, and class and argued for the liberation of Black women on all fronts.
The Collective is perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement, a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of identity politics as used among political organizers and social theorists, and for introducing the concept of interlocking systems of oppression, including but not limited to gender, race, and sexuality, a fundamental concept of intersectionality. Gerald Izenberg credits the 1977 Combahee statement with the first usage of the phrase "identity politics". Through writing its statement, the CRC connected themselves to the activist tradition of Black women in the 19th century and to the struggles of Black liberation in the 1960s. The document embarked upon the separation of a gender-only focused feminism and highlighted the significance of interlocking systems of oppression.
Author Barbara Smith and other delegates attending the first (1973) regional meeting of the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) in New York City provided the groundwork for the Combahee River Collective with its efforts to build an NBFO Chapter in Boston. The NBFO was formed by Black feminists, Florynce Kennedy, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, and others, reacting to the failure of mainstream White feminist groups to respond to the racism that Black women faced in the United States. The organization sought to challenge the exclusion of Black women from mainstream feminist discourse and activism, which often prioritized the concerns and experiences of white women. It aimed to create a space where Black women's voices, perspectives, and issues could be centered and addressed. Members of the collective began the groundwork for the organization, believing that they were in need of more radical views in order to better address issues.
In her 2001 essay "From the Kennedy Commission to the Combahee Collective", historian and African American Studies professor Duchess Harris states that, in 1974 the Boston collective "observed that their vision for social change was more radical than the NBFO", and as a result, the group chose to strike out on its own as the Combahee River Collective. Members of the CRC, notably Barbara Smith and Demita Frazier, felt it was critical that the organization address the needs of Black lesbians, in addition to organizing on behalf of Black feminists.
The Collective's name was suggested by Smith, who owned a book called Harriet Tubman, Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Earl Conrad. She "wanted to name the collective after a historical event that was meaningful to African American women." Smith noted: "It was a way of talking about ourselves being on a continuum of Black struggle, of Black women's struggle." The name commemorated a military operation at the Combahee River planned and led by Harriet Tubman on June 2, 1863, in the Port Royal region of South Carolina. The action freed more than 750 slaves, and it is the only military campaign in American history planned and led by a woman.
The Combahee River Collective Statement was developed by a "collective of Black feminists...involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while...doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements..."
Members of the collective describe having a feeling of creating something which had not existed previously. Demita Frazier described the CRC's beginnings as "not a mix cake", meaning that the women involved had to create the meaning and purpose of the group "from scratch." In her 1995 essay "Doing it from Scratch: The Challenge of Black Lesbian Organizing", which borrows its title from Frazier's statement, Barbara Smith describes the early activities of the collective as "consciousness raising and political work on a multitude of issues", along with the building of "friendship networks, community and a rich Black women's culture where none had existed before."
The CRC sought to address the failures of organizations like the NBFO and build a collective statement to enable the analysis of capitalism's oppression of Black women, coming to the conclusion for a reformation to meet the needs for those significantly oppressed; and by doing this it would liberate everyone. This was not an academic exercise, rather the CRC sought to create a mechanism for Black women to engage in politics. The catalyst for this engagement were the failures of organizations like the NBFO to successfully address the oppression Black women faced on issues like sterilization, sexual assault, labor rights, and workplace rights. This alienation as well as the domination of the Black liberation movement by Black men, led members of the CRC to reimagine a politics that engaged these issues.