Womanism: Encyclopedia - Womanism

Womanism

Defined by feminist author, Alice Walker, Womanism is a commonly used term that was coined to mean specifically African American Feminism, but it has developed into a more encompassing version of feminism that crosses lines of race and class.

Walker first used the term in context in her collection of poems In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose. The need for this term arose from the early feminist movements that were led specifically by white women who advocated social changes such as the right to move from the domestic to the working space. This feminist agenda ignored the fact that many women were not housewives(home executives) and had been working all their lives to help support their families. In particular, African American women were already working women, but not out of choice, and not as a matter of personal fulfillment. Similarly, the Civil Rights Movement was also wanting. It focused on equality for African American men, but women were unintentionally left in the background.

Walker created the womanist movement out of these two separate movements. With the increasing use of the term, both African American Studies and Women's Studies programs began to incorporate womanism into university courses, and historians are regarded as womanist historians if they have incorporated the views and experiences of African American women in their accounts of history.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Womanism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki