“She came to slay slavery. She came to remove her friends and family from the most violent system in the United States. She came, and she did it, armed and ready.”
Author: Janell Hobson
Janell Hobson is professor of women's, gender and sexuality studies at the University at Albany. She is the author of When God Lost Her Tongue: Historical Consciousness and the Black Feminist Imagination. She is also the editor of Tubman 200: The Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Project.
Who’s Afraid of Harriet Tubman?
Given that “Harriet” over-performed at the box office its opening weekend—just like the real Harriet Tubman was consistently underestimated at every turn, including winning the popular vote in a campaign to get a woman on the $20—perhaps more of us are starting to “trust the black women” who tell her story.
Our Beloved: Remembering Toni Morrison
A gifted writer and skilled editor, Toni Morrison helped build the foundations on which African American and women’s literature have flourished
Black Mermaids, White Fantasies and the Need for a Black Feminist Imagination
This Disney remake needs more than just a “Black mermaid.” We need a story with a Black feminist imagination.
Tanisha C. Ford’s Black Feminist Love Letter to Fashion
“We need to understand that style and adornment have always been central to a feminist project and how feminists have defined themselves or pushed back against normative readings of the body.”
“The Lemonade Reader” Adds Beyoncé to the Black Feminist Canon
Kinitra Brooks and Kameelah Martin’s new collection adds to a growing list of works that comprise “Beyoncé Studies.”
Why Chanda Prescod-Weinstein Fuses Physics with Black Feminism
“I think that black scientists are thought of as mythological Afrofuturist beings. And it may be that we’re Afrofuturists, but we’re not mythological.”
Black Feminist in Public: How Rabi Musah Uses Chemistry to Advance Social Justice
“How do I take science and by solving a problem in science, address a problem that disproportionately affects women all over planet Earth? That’s my feminist agenda.”
Black Excellence, Imposter Syndrome and the Trickster in “Us”
There is a lingering anxiety that our various performances of “black excellence” will somehow be undercut as fraudulent. I see that theme recurring throughout the film “Us.”
Black Feminist in Public: Kasi Lemmons on Telling Harriet Tubman’s Freedom Story
“Harriet Tubman’s story is not about slavery. It’s about escaping from slavery. It’s about freedom.”