No Permanent Waves: Recasting Histories of U.S. Feminism

2. Multiracial Feminism

In the last [decade of the twentieth century], a number of histories [were] published that chronicle[d] the emergence and contributions of second wave feminism.1 Although initially eager to read and teach from these histories , I have found myself increasingly concerned about the extent to which they provide a version of second wave history that Chela Sandoval refers to as “hegemonic feminism.”2 This feminism is white-led, marginalizes the activism and worldviews of women of color, focuses mainly on the United States, and treats sexism as the ultimate oppression. Hegemonic feminism deemphasizes or ignores a class and race analysis, generally sees equality with men as the goal of feminism, and has an individual rights–based rather than justice-based vision for social change. Although rarely named as hegemonic feminism, this history typically resorts to an old litany of the women’s movement that includes three or four branches of feminism: liberal, socialist, radical, and sometimes cultural feminism .3 The most significant problem with this litany is that it does not recognize the centrality of the feminism of women of color in second wave history. Missing too from normative accounts is the story of white antiracist feminism, which, from its emergence, has been intertwined with, and fueled by the development of, feminism among women of color.4 Telling the history of second wave feminism from the point of view of women of color and white antiracist women illuminates the rise of multiracial feminism—the liberation movement spearheaded by women of color in the United States in the 1970s that was characterized by its international perspective, its attention to interlocking oppressions, and its support of Multiracial Feminism Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism BECKY THOMPSON 39 2 bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb coalition politics.5 Bernice Johnson Reagon’s naming of “coalition politics”; Patricia Hill Collins’s understanding of women of color as “outsiders within”; Barbara Smith’s concept of “the simultaneity of oppressions”; Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa’s “theory in the flesh”; Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s critique of “imperialist feminism”; Paula Gunn Allen’s “red roots of white feminism ”; Adrienne Rich’s “politics of location”; and Patricia Williams’s analysis of “spirit murder” are all theoretical guideposts for multiracial feminism.6 Tracing the rise of multiracial feminism raises many questions about common assumptions made in normative versions of second wave history. Constructing a multiracial feminist movement timeline and juxtaposing it with the normative timeline reveals competing visions of what constitutes liberation and illuminates schisms in feminist consciousness that are still with us today. The Rise of Multiracial Feminism Normative accounts of the second wave feminist movement often reach back to the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in 1963, the founding of the National Organization for Women in 1966, and the emergence of women’s consciousness-raising (CR) groups in the late 1960s. All signaled a rising number of white, middle-class women unwilling to be treated like second-class citizens in the boardroom, in education, or in bed. Many of the early protests waged by this sector of the feminist movement picked up on the courage and forthrightness of 1960s’ struggles—a willingness to stop traf- fic, break existing laws to provide safe and accessible abortions, and contradict the older generation. For younger women, the leadership women had demonstrated in 1960s’ activism belied the sex roles that had traditionally defined domestic, economic, and political relations and opened new possibilities for action. This version of the origins of second wave history is not sufficient in telling the story of multiracial feminism. Although there were Black women involved with NOW from the outset and Black and Latina women who participated in CR groups, the feminist work of women of color also extended beyond women-only spaces. In fact, during the 1970s, women of color were involved on three fronts—working with white-dominated feminist groups; forming women’s caucuses in existing mixed-gender organizations; and developing autonomous Black, Latina, Native American, and Asian feminist organizations.7 BECKY THOMPSON 40 This three-pronged approach contrasts sharply with the common notion that women of color feminists emerged in reaction to (and therefore later than) white feminism. In her critique of “model making” in second wave historiography, which has “all but ignored the feminist activism of women of color,” Benita Roth “challenges the idea that Black feminist organizing was a later variant of so-called mainstream...