Womanist Forefathers

Gary L. Lemons

Description

What role did African American men have in the early twentieth-century struggle for women's suffrage? How is gender significant to the historical and contemporary struggles for African American liberation? In Womanist Forefathers, Gary L. Lemons examines the memoirs and political writings on women by Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois, positioning these radical proponents of female equality as "womanist forefathers" to later generations of gender progressive black men. Lemons argues that the writings of Douglass and Du Bois, which merge confessional narrative with social criticism, demonstrate the power of pro-womanist thinking in the vision of racial uplift both men advanced. Womanist Forefathers then traces the lineage between these early African American activists to contemporary pro-feminist black men, many of whom have similarly combined analyses of the personal with the political to envision a black male brotherhood founded on womanist principles, free from nationalism rooted in patriarchy, heterosexism, and homophobia.
Acknowledgments

Prologue: Theorizing a Pro-woman(ist) Politics of Gender Justice before, during, and after "The Black Sexism Debate"

Introduction: Black Men Writing Ourselves into Pro-woman(ist)
Being(s) in the Name of the Black Maternal

Part I: Reclaiming Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois as Womanist Forefathers

1. A Recovered Past Most Usable: Documenting the History of Black Male Gender Progressivism

2. Frederick Douglass's Journey from Slavery to Womanist Manhood: Liberating the Black Male Self

3. W. E. B. Du Bois: "The Leading Male Feminist of His Time" and "Most Passionate Defender"

4. Novel for the "Darker Sisters": The Quest of the Silver Fleece and W. E. B. Du Bois's Vision of the (Quint)essential Black Woman(ist)

Part II: Black Feminist "Sisters," "Brothers," and Fathers: Securing the Womanist Legacy

5. On the Power of Contemporary Black Feminist Profession

6. "Brother"hood Called into Question

7. A Vision of Pro-woman(ist) Masculinity for a "NewBlackMan(hood)"

8. Hands-on Practice: Everyday Challenges of Pro-woman(ist) / Feminist Fatherhood

Epilogue: "This is What a (Black Male) Feminist Looks Like"
Time Has Brought about a Change

Notes
Works Cited
Index

Sujets

• États-Unis
• History of the Americas
• United States of America
• USA

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 10 septembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438427690
• Langue: English

Extrait

Womanist Forefathers Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois  Gary L. Lemons

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Womanist Forefathers

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Womanist Forefathers Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois

GARY L. LEMONS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2009 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lemons, Gary L.  Womanist forefathers : Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois / Gary L. Lemons.  p. cm.  ISBN 978-1-4384-2755-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)  ISBN 978-1-4384-2756-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)  1. Douglass, Frederick, 1818–1895. 2. Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868–1963. 3. African American feminists—Biography. 4. Male feminists—Biography. I. Title.

HQ1413.D695L46 2009 305.42092'396073—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2008050664

First for my pro-woman(ist) godfather, Bishop James Howard— When I needed you most, you came into my life. I hear the raspy tone of your voice even now as you called me by name—“Brother Gary.” Years ago, in search of black pro-woman(ist) forefathers, I discovered Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois. I did not know then that it was you for whom I searched, you for whom I yearned. You taught me the lessons of feminist fatherhood I needed to write this book, with all the wise counsel and intellectual and spiritual insights you brought to our weekly meetings over the course of two years. Like a mantra, the words you habitually spoke to me have remained with me: “Youhave something to say.” I have said it—it is done.

And for the feminist / womanist women whose minds, hearts, andhandsmy vision of pro-woman(ist) black men modeled and gender justice in the world— bell hooks, Jacqui Alexander, Kim Vaz, Aaronette White, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, Paula Giddings, Angela Davis, Layli Phillips, Fanni Green (my life partner / wife), and Thelma Jean Lemons (my mother).

Finally, for my children: Gabriel, Elmore, and Danyealah for allowing me to include your stories to illustrate the challenges of feminist-womanist fatherhood.

Womanist:to A . . . Committed black feminist or feminist of color survival and wholeness of entire people, maleand female. . . Not a separatist . . . Traditionally universal, as in: “Mama, why are we brown, pink, and yellow, and our cousins are white, beige, and black?” Ans.: “Well, you know the colored race is just like a flower garden, with every color flower represented.” Traditionally capable, as in: “Mama, I’m walking to Canada and I’m taking you and a bunch of other slaves with me.” Reply: “It wouldn't be the first time.”

Womanist is to feminist as purple to lavenderadded]. [emphasis

Alice Walker (1983, xi–xii)

Pro-woman(ist):employed inWomanist Forefathersto describe a gender- progressive black male who supports the social, economic, sexual, and political rights of “woman” transnationally and womanist thinking (as a black feminist or feminist of color) simultaneously.

Acknowledgments

Prologue:

Contents

Theorizing a Pro-woman(ist) Politics of Gender Justice before, during, and after “The Black Sexism Debate”

Introduction:Black Men Writing Ourselves into Pro-woman(ist)  Being(s) in the Name of the Black Maternal

Part I:Reclaiming Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois as Womanist Forefathers

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

A Recovered Past Most Usable: Documenting the History of Black Male Gender Progressivism

Frederick Douglass’s Journey from Slavery to Womanist Manhood: Liberating the Black Male Self

W. E. B. Du Bois: “The Leading Male Feminist of His Time” and “Most Passionate Defender of BlackWomen”

Novel for the “Darker Sisters”:The Quest of the Silver FleeceW. E. B. Du Bois’s Vision of the and (Quint)essential Black Woman(ist)

Part II:Black Feminist “Sisters,” “Brothers,” and Fathers: Securing the Womanist Legacy

Chapter 5

On the Power of Contemporary Black Feminist Profession

i

x

xi

1

13

23

5

3

8

1

115

“Brother”hood Called into Question

A Vision of Pro-woman(ist) Masculinity for a “NewBlackMan(hood)”

127

Notes

Index

Works Cited

“This is What a (Black Male) Feminist Looks Like” Time Has Brought about a Change

Chapter 6

viii

201

Contents

145

211

205

Chapter 7

191

163

Epilogue:

Chapter 8

Hands-on Practice: Everyday Challenges of Pro-woman(ist) / Feminist Fatherhood