- Date:
- 1974 - 1980
- Areas Of Involvement:
- African Americans
- feminism
- lesbianism
Combahee River Collective
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What was the Combahee River Collective?
The Combahee River Collective was a Black, feminist, lesbian, socialist group based in Boston, Massachusetts, that operated from 1974 to 1980. It was created in response to racism within the feminist movement, as well as sexism and homophobia within the civil rights movement.
The collective was formed out of a desire to synthesize a theoretical understanding of the intersectional oppression experienced by Black women. The organization believed that existing equal rights movements failed to capture the systemic oppressions they experienced, such as classism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. Though the group dispersed only six years after its founding, the Combahee River Collective changed the course of the contemporary Black feminist movement.
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Who were the members of the Combahee River Collective?
The Combahee River Collective was a Black, feminist, lesbian, socialist group based primarily in Boston, Massachusetts, that operated from 1974 to 1980. Barbara Smith, a founder, named the organization after Harriet Tubman's raid on the Combahee River, which freed over 750 enslaved people on June 2, 1863.
The collective formed from a desire to understand the intersectional oppression experienced by Black women and synthesized a theoretical understanding of it. Demita Frazier, a cofounder, had been an active member of the Chicago Black Panther Party. The group believed that equal rights movements failed to capture the systemic oppressions they experienced, such as classism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. The group's specificity in identifying as Black lesbian socialists was meant to serve the critical purpose of not forcing members to leave any of their identities behind.
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What did the Combahee River Collective stand for?
The Combahee River Collective was a Black, feminist, lesbian, socialist group formed in 1974 in response to the racism prevalent in the feminist movement, as well as the sexism and homophobia within the civil rights movement. The group was named after Harriet Tubman's raid on the Combahee River, which freed over 750 enslaved people on June 2, 1863.
The Collective strived to address the class struggles experienced by Black women, and believed that existing equal rights movements failed to capture the systemic oppressions they faced, including classism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. The organization articulated their identity to capture the intersectional oppression that Black women faced. The Collective's statement in 1977 defined concepts like identity politics and interlocking oppression.
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Why was the Combahee River Collective important for Black feminism?
The Combahee River Collective was important for Black feminism because it synthesized a theoretical understanding of the intersectional oppression experienced by Black women. The collective brought transgender and queer Black womenâs voices into the center of the movement and made class and socioeconomic struggles a priority for Black feminists. Their 1977 statement introduced "identity politics" and "interlocking oppression," which became popular concepts for understanding political needs and oppression. The Collective was the first group to explicitly address the interacting oppressions ignored by mainstream civil rights and feminist movements. The Combahee River Collective formed in 1974 after members broke away from the National Black Feminist Organization because of disagreements.
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What ideas did the collective write about in their famous statement?
The Combahee River Collective's famous statement addresses Black feminism's history, their political beliefs, challenges organizing Black feminists, their organization's history, and issues facing Black feminism.
The collective's beliefs originated from the conclusion that Black women are valuable and their liberation is a necessity because of their need for autonomy. They believed that if Black women were free, everyone would be free because it would necessitate the destruction of all systems of oppression. The statement cites the two-front fight against sexism and racism as the major problem facing Black feminists, as well as the economic challenges that result. They saw themselves as champions of women in the Third World and advocated action against oppression involving race, sex, and class within and outside the United States. They also accused the mainstream, white feminist movement of allowing racism to go unchallenged within its circles.
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How has the work of the Combahee River Collective influenced activism today?
The Combahee River Collective, active from 1974 to 1980, significantly reshaped the Black feminist movement by bringing the experiences of Black transgender and queer women to the forefront and prioritizing the fight against class and socioeconomic inequalities.
Their 1977 statement introduced concepts like identity politics and interlocking oppression, which are now widely used to analyze political needs and understand oppression. By explicitly addressing the interconnected oppressions that mainstream civil rights and feminist movements often overlooked, the Collective has had a lasting influence on how political analysts understand the needs and preferences of political groups.
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Combahee River Collective, Black, feminist, lesbian, socialist group primarily based in Boston, Massachusetts. The group, created in response to racism within the feminist movement and sexism and homophobia within the civil rights movement, operated from 1974 to 1980. Barbara Smith, a founder of the collective, named the organization after the raid organized by Harriet Tubman on the Combahee River on June 2, 1863, which freed more than 750 enslaved people.
Founding
The Combahee River Collective started as a breakaway group from the National Black Feminist Organization. After some disagreements with that organizationâs failure to address class struggles faced by Black women, the group quickly became a coalition in its own right in 1974. According to Smith, the Combahee River Collective formed out of a desire to synthesize a theoretical understanding of the intersectional oppression experienced by Black women. Although traditionally marginalized from leadership positions in adjacent advocacy groups due to their race or gender, many leaders of the Combahee River Collective came with previous organizing experience, such as cofounder Demita Frazier, who was an active member of the Chicago Black Panther Party. Though criticized as separatist or divisive for the specificity of their identification as Black lesbian socialists, the Combahee River Collective leaders reported that they believed this articulation of their identity served a critical purpose: not to force members to leave any of their identities behind. The organization believed that the current equal rights movements failed to capture the systemic oppressions they experienced, such as classism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. These convictions culminated in a statement of beliefs put out collectively by the group in 1977 after years of weekly meetings and retreats across the Northeast.
The statement
Historians credit âThe Combahee River Collective Statementâ as a formative text in developing the contemporary Black feminist movement. The statement begins with a short account of the groupâs purpose and proceeds to discuss the history of contemporary Black feminism, the collectiveâs political beliefs, the problems they faced in organizing Black feminists, a short history of their organization, and the issues facing Black feminism.
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The statement claims that the origins of contemporary Black feminism lie in Black womenâs life-or-death struggle as members of two oppressed groups within the American political system. It specifically cites the role that the intersection of gender and race play in the increased risk of physical and sexual abuse. The document declares that the Combahee River Collectiveâs beliefs originated from a shared conclusion that âBlack women are inherently valuable, that our liberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody elseâs but because of our need as human persons for autonomy.â They further conclude that if all Black women were free, that would mean everyone had become free âsince our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.â
The major problem facing Black feminists, as cited by the statement, consists of the two-front fight against sexism and racism as well as the economic challenges faced as a result of these obstacles. In light of the latter, the Combahee River Collective saw themselves as champions of women in the Third World and, for this reason, advocated taking dedicated action against oppression that involved race, sex, and class both within and outside the United States. Lastly, they accuse the mainstream, white feminist movement of allowing racism to go unchallenged within its circles.
Impact and legacy
Although the group dispersed only six years after its founding, the Combahee River Collective changed the course of the contemporary Black feminist movement. The collective brought transgender and queer Black womenâs voices into the centre of the movement for the first time and made combating class and socioeconomic struggles a significant priority for Black feminists. Moreover, the âCombahee River Collective Statement,â which is read and taught in gender studies and Africana studies classes across the country, coined terms such as identity politics and interlocking oppression that have become popular lenses through which to understand political constituenciesâ needs and preferences. Such concepts would go on to be considered by political analysts as new ways to understand and describe aspects of oppression. Thus, while the Combahee River Collective was not the first group to recognize Black womenâs intersectional struggles, they were the first to make explicit the underlying interacting oppressions ignored by the mainstream civil rights and feminist movements.