Why Are First Wave Black Feminists Invisible?

Mainstream white feminism presents the image that Betty Friedan she is the leader of the modern feminist movement. Friedan”s 1963 book

“The Feminine Mystique”, ,is an  important historical document because she was presenting the fact that white middle class heterosexual women felt imprisoned in the home.

However, Friedan was also a homophobe, she said that lesbianism was  “the lavender menace”.  However, Friedan work obscured difference and ignored the issues of race and class.

Since the days of slavery in America, black women always had to work to support their families they did not have the luxury of being stay at home moms. In fact, the white middle class women Friedan’s book focuses on ignores the fact black women cleaned their houses and raised their children.

“The Feminine Mystique”, is a reminder of the legacy of  racism within the mainstream feminist movement against black women.

Meanwhile, the first wave black feminists tend to be ignored. For instance,  black women such as Ida B Wells Barnett she campaigned for black women’s rights. Barnett  realized that black women encounter multiple forms of oppressions in relation to their race, class, and gender. Barnett she was ahead of her time, she was a journalist and feminist. Barnett she campaigned against lynching in the United States and against the sexism of white and black men.

However, how many Women’s Studies courses talk about Ida B Wells Barnett and her work?