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| Barbara Smith (feminist) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Barbara Smith |
| Birth date | 1946 |
| Birth place | Columbus, Ohio |
| Occupation | Activist, writer, scholar, editor |
| Notable works | Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology |
Barbara Smith (feminist) is an American activist, writer, and scholar who has been a leading figure in Black feminist thought, lesbian feminist organizing, and multicultural literary editing since the 1970s. She co-founded influential organizations and publications, bridging movements such as Black Power, second-wave feminism, and LGBTQ liberation, and has taught at institutions including Rutgers University and York College, City University of New York. Her work as an editor, organizer, and theorist reshaped conversations in movements associated with figures like Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis, and Alice Walker.
Barbara Smith was born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in a family connected to local African American communities and churches in the Midwest. She attended public schools before enrolling at University of Michigan for undergraduate study, where she encountered radical politics such as Black Students' Union activism and readings by authors like James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Malcolm X. Later graduate work brought her into contact with scholars at institutions like University of Massachusetts Amherst and networks including National Black Feminist Organization organizers and feminist theorists influenced by Simone de Beauvoir and Gloria Steinem.
Smith helped found key groups such as the Combahee River Collective and the publishing collective that produced Home Girls, collaborating with activists including Beverly Smith, Alda B. and others associated with Sojourner Truth Organization-era organizing. She worked alongside community groups like SNCC veterans and coalition partners from Gay Liberation Front, participating in conferences connected to National Women's Conference (1977) debates and intersections with movements led by Stokely Carmichael and Elaine Brown. Smith's organizing emphasized intersectionality ahead of the term popularized by Kimberlé Crenshaw, aligning with struggles around civil rights movement goals, labor campaigns tied to United Auto Workers, and campaigns against racialized policing such as those inspired by campaigns in Harlem and Oakland.
As co-editor of Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, Smith curated essays, fiction, and poetry by contributors including Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Ntozake Shange, Audre Lorde, and Alice Walker. She co-founded the publishing project Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, associating with writers and intellectuals from networks tied to Moyers-era public intellectuals and cultural critics like Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates Jr.. Smith's essays and reviews appeared in journals and magazines linked to the Black Arts Movement and feminist periodicals such as Ms. and The Village Voice, engaging with literary histories involving Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes while responding to contemporary debates raised by Patricia Hill Collins and Gloria Anzaldúa.
Smith has held teaching positions at institutions including Rutgers University, State University of New York campuses, and York College, City University of New York, working with students alongside faculty like Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates Jr. in departments connected to studies shaped by journals such as Signs (journal) and programs influenced by Women's Studies founders at Barnard College and Smith College. Her syllabi incorporated work by theorists and writers including Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Patricia Hill Collins, and historical materials related to Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, situating contemporary debates in archives like those at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Smith advanced concepts central to what later became called intersectionality, emphasizing the simultaneity of oppressions experienced by African American women and lesbians, in conversation with thinkers such as bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, and Kimberlé Crenshaw. Her editorial praxis foregrounded cross-genre work by Black women, influencing publishing initiatives like Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and shaping curricula in programs influenced by Black feminist thought and cultural criticism found in the work of Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. Smith's activism influenced organizations including National Organization for Women branches and LGBT groups addressing issues connected to Stonewall riots legacies, while her writing informed debates in journals such as Feminist Studies and Transition (magazine).
Smith's work has been recognized by awards and honors associated with institutions such as MacArthur Foundation-style fellowships, teaching prizes from Rutgers University and scholarly societies like the Modern Language Association. She received lifetime achievement acknowledgments from festivals and conferences linked to Black History Month programming, literary honors resembling those from the Lambda Literary Awards and recognition from community organizations in cities like New York City, Boston, and Chicago that celebrate contributions to Black feminism and lesbian activism.
Category:African-American feminists Category:American lesbian writers