During the Winter term, I was fortunate enough to take part in what can best be described as a ground breaking experience. Here at Georgia State we don't normally associate the words ground breaking with the learning experience, but the last 10 weeks have forever changed my mind.

The experience I'm speaking of is a course entitled "Voices of African American Feminists." The title alone is monumental, because for some, the terms "African American" and "feminist" are mutually exclusive. To many African Americans, "feminist" calls up an image of a harried woman of European descent who constantly complains about white male domination and hegemony. In some feminist circles, African American women aren't necessarily believed to need feminism, because we're already "liberated" and our "strength" and "independence" make feminism gratuitous.

On the surface, these may seem like valid claims. In truth, the early days of the women's movement in America marginalized and largely ignored the concerns of African American women. Many of these same women who fought for women's suffrage and independence believed African American women were inhuman, and therefore didn't deserve a voice or visible place in their movement.

African American women addressed these concerns from the beginning. Sojourner Truth, a formerly enslaved African American woman, challenged Victorian notions of "true" womanhood when she asked "Ain't I a Woman?" Women like Truth sought to redefine traditional notions of women's identity to include African American women whose circumstances prevented them the liberties of their European American counterparts.

Traditional feminism failed to acknowledge the intersection of race, gender, and in some cases, sexual oppression on the lives of African American women. This limited view insists that one be a woman first, and heed culture second. This is an unreal and nearly impossible expectation. Many European American feminists fail to see that the white community offers no safe haven against the daily confrontations with racism. While we may break bread with regards to our status as women, it is the peculiar influence of race that separates us.

This is one of the reasons, dare I say the main reason, why so many African American women shun feminism. Because of past failures, some African American women regard feminism as a "white" thing. One of the move valuable lessons I have learned as a result of this course is that there is a feminist tradition in the African American community. In 1893, Frances E.W. Harper wrote "So close is the bond between man and woman that you can not raise one without lifting the other. This goes to the root of the fundamental understanding that community will only succeed when men and women see each other as equals.

African American women have always known that any progressive movement toward the humanization and improvement of the lives of any person must include men and women. This is not to suggest that African American women can continue to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the sexist rhetoric espoused by some African American men in an attempt at some vague notion of racial unity. Feminism empowers us to challenge our brothers who believe we can best serve our community on our backs, while at the same time we address the sickness in American society that makes such cavalier attitudes toward women acceptable.

There is also the perception in the African American community (and in society at large) that feminism is equal to, or leads to, lesbianism. This attitude only serves to keep women afraid, alone, isolated and silent. With the insistence by some in the media, in government, and in fundamentalist circles that the two terms are synonymous, women are driven away from a vision that could offer real solutions to their plight.

Feminism encourages the creation of shared spaces wherein women and men can engage in dialogue that has the potential to radically transform their relationships. Because of this class, I know that calling men "male chauvinist pigs" and calling women "hootchie mamas" are different sides of the same tactic to prevent understanding across gender lines.

Because of one little class, African American Studies 453, I and many of my classmates have learned that there is no one true way to be a feminist. What we all have in common is the commitment to tearing down those sexist, racist, and homophobic structures in society that oppress us all. Feminism goes by many different names, but the fervor never changes.

I hope you understand why this was such a momentous occasion in my life. For the first time in the long history of my education at this institution, I saw myself, my sisters, and our collective and individual experiences held up as the embodiment of an entire movement. So forgive me, please, if I strut just a little bit.


Cecily Walker is majoring in African American studies at Georgia State.