"Black women have a good understanding of both sexism and racism, but because of the everyday constrictions of their lives cannot risk struggling against them both" (Guy-Sheftall, 237)
Introduction
Black feminists in the United States of America are at constant war against prejudices and stereotypes. Not only do Black women have to deal with racial prejudices, but they also have to fight for gender equality and rights. According to Black feminists, class oppression, racism and sexism are all bound together in a web of oppression that keeps Black women in America down. Throughout the history of African American feminism, women have had to fight viciously to gain civil rights, women’s suffrage, and reproductive rights. Black feminist organizations had to overcome challenges that no other feminist organization has had to face, since they are also fighting for racial equality. They not only have to prove to white women that they belong in the feminist fight, but also to that they deserve racial equality despite the misogynist tendencies of Black Nationalism. The Black Feminist Movement was created to address the ways racism, sexism, and classism influence the everyday lives of black women whose needs were ignored by the black men of the Black Liberation Movement and white women in the Women's Movement. The movement has spawned several important organizations which are committed to the struggle against all forms of oppression not only the oppression of black women.