Autobiography as activism : three Black women of the Sixties

A study of three Black Power narratives as instruments for radical social change Angela Davis, Assata Shakur (a.k.a. JoAnne Chesimard), and Elaine Brown are the only women activists of the Black Power movement who have published book-length autobiographies. In bearing witness to that era, these militant newsmakers wrote in part to educate and to mobilize their anticipated readers. In this way, Davis's Angela Davis: An Autobiography (1974), Shakur's Assata (1987), and Brown's A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story (1992) can all be read as extensions of the writers' political activism during the 1960s. Margo V. Perkins's critical analysis of their books is less a history of the movement (or of women's involvement in it) than an exploration of the politics of storytelling for activists who choose to write their lives. Perkins examines how activists use autobiography to connect their lives to those of other activists across historical periods, to emphasize the link between the personal and the political, and to construct an alternative history that challenges dominant or conventional ways of knowing. The histories constructed by these three women call attention to the experiences of women in revolutionary struggle, particularly to the ways their experiences have differed from men's. The women's stories are told from different perspectives and provide different insights into a movement that has been much studied from the masculine perspective. At times they fill in, complement, challenge, or converse with the stories told by their male counterparts, and in doing so, hint at how the present and future can be made less catastrophic because of women's involvement. The multiple complexities of the Black Power movement become evident in reading these women's narratives against each other as well as against the sometimes strikingly different accounts of their male counterparts. As Davis, Shakur, and Brown recount events in their lives, they dispute mainstream assumptions about race, class, and gender and reveal how the Black Power struggle profoundly shaped their respective identities. Recipient of Mississippi University for Women's Eudora Welty Prize, 1999 Margo V. Perkins is an assistant professor of English and American studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. 1001238351-I00001.tif 1 1001238351-I00002.tif 2 1001238351-I00003.tif 3 1001238351-I00004.tif 4 1001238351-I00005.tif 5 1001238351-I00006.tif 6 1001238351-I00007.tif 7 1001238351-I00008.tif 8 1001238351-I00009.tif 9 1001238351-I00010.tif 10 1001238351-I00011.tif 11 1001238351-I00012.tif 12 1001238351-I00013.tif 13 1001238351-I00014.tif 14 1001238351-I00015.tif 15 1001238351-I00016.tif 16 1001238351-I00017.tif 17 1001238351-I00018.tif 18 1001238351-I00019.tif 19 1001238351-I00020.tif 20 1001238351-I00021.tif 21 1001238351-I00022.tif 22 1001238351-I00023.tif 23 1001238351-I00024.tif 24 1001238351-I00025.tif 25 1001238351-I00026.tif 26 1001238351-I00027.tif 27 1001238351-I00028.tif 28 1001238351-I00029.tif 29 1001238351-I00030.tif 30 1001238351-I00031.tif 31 1001238351-I00032.tif 32 1001238351-I00033.tif 33 1001238351-I00034.tif 34 1001238351-I00035.tif 35 1001238351-I00036.tif 36 1001238351-I00037.tif 37 1001238351-I00038.tif 38 1001238351-I00039.tif 39 1001238351-I00040.tif 40 1001238351-I00041.tif 41 1001238351-I00042.tif 42 1001238351-I00043.tif 43 1001238351-I00044.tif 44 1001238351-I00045.tif 45 1001238351-I00046.tif 46 1001238351-I00047.tif 47 1001238351-I00048.tif 48 1001238351-I00049.tif 49 1001238351-I00050.tif 50 1001238351-I00051.tif 51 1001238351-I00052.tif 52 1001238351-I00053.tif 53 1001238351-I00054.tif 54 1001238351-I00055.tif 55 1001238351-I00056.tif 56 1001238351-I00057.tif 57 1001238351-I00058.tif 58 1001238351-I00059.tif 59 1001238351-I00060.tif 60 1001238351-I00061.tif 61 1001238351-I00062.tif 62 1001238351-I00063.tif 63 1001238351-I00064.tif 64 1001238351-I00065.tif 65 1001238351-I00066.tif 66 1001238351-I00067.tif 67 1001238351-I00068.tif 68 1001238351-I00069.tif 69 1001238351-I00070.tif 70 1001238351-I00071.tif 71 1001238351-I00072.tif 72 1001238351-I00073.tif 73 1001238351-I00074.tif 74 1001238351-I00075.tif 75 1001238351-I00076.tif 76 1001238351-I00077.tif 77 1001238351-I00078.tif 78 1001238351-I00079.tif 79 1001238351-I00080.tif 80 1001238351-I00081.tif 81 1001238351-I00082.tif 82 1001238351-I00083.tif 83 1001238351-I00084.tif 84 1001238351-I00085.tif 85 1001238351-I00086.tif 86 1001238351-I00087.tif 87 1001238351-I00088.tif 88 1001238351-I00089.tif 89 1001238351-I00090.tif 90 1001238351-I00091.tif 91 1001238351-I00092.tif 92 1001238351-I00093.tif 93 1001238351-I00094.tif 94 1001238351-I00095.tif 95 1001238351-I00096.tif 96 1001238351-I00097.tif 97 1001238351-I00098.tif 98 1001238351-I00099.tif 99 1001238351-I00100.tif 100 1001238351-I00101.tif 101 1001238351-I00102.tif 102 1001238351-I00103.tif 103 1001238351-I00104.tif 104 1001238351-I00105.tif 105 1001238351-I00106.tif 106 1001238351-I00107.tif 107 1001238351-I00108.tif 108 1001238351-I00109.tif 109 1001238351-I00110.tif 110 1001238351-I00111.tif 111 1001238351-I00112.tif 112 1001238351-I00113.tif 113 1001238351-I00114.tif 114 1001238351-I00115.tif 115 1001238351-I00116.tif 116 1001238351-I00117.tif 117 1001238351-I00118.tif 118 1001238351-I00119.tif 119 1001238351-I00120.tif 120 1001238351-I00121.tif 121 1001238351-I00122.tif 122 1001238351-I00123.tif 123 1001238351-I00124.tif 124 1001238351-I00125.tif 125 1001238351-I00126.tif 126 1001238351-I00127.tif 127 1001238351-I00128.tif 128 1001238351-I00129.tif 129 1001238351-I00130.tif 130 1001238351-I00131.tif 131 1001238351-I00132.tif 132 1001238351-I00133.tif 133 1001238351-I00134.tif 134 1001238351-I00135.tif 135 1001238351-I00136.tif 136 1001238351-I00137.tif 137 1001238351-I00138.tif 138 1001238351-I00139.tif 139 1001238351-I00140.tif 140 1001238351-I00141.tif 141 1001238351-I00142.tif 142 1001238351-I00143.tif 143 1001238351-I00144.tif 144 1001238351-I00145.tif 145 1001238351-I00146.tif 146 1001238351-I00147.tif 147 1001238351-I00148.tif 148 1001238351-I00149.tif 149 1001238351-I00150.tif 150 1001238351-I00151.tif 151 1001238351-I00152.tif 152 1001238351-I00153.tif 153 1001238351-I00154.tif 154 1001238351-I00155.tif 155 1001238351-I00156.tif 156 1001238351-I00157.tif 157 1001238351-I00158.tif 158 1001238351-I00159.tif 159 1001238351-I00160.tif 160 1001238351-I00161.tif 161 1001238351-I00162.tif 162 1001238351-I00163.tif 163 1001238351-I00164.tif 164 1001238351-I00165.tif 165 1001238351-I00166.tif 166 1001238351-I00167.tif 167 1001238351-I00168.tif 168 1001238351-I00169.tif 169 1001238351-I00170.tif 170 1001238351-I00171.tif 171 1001238351-I00172.tif 172 1001238351-I00173.tif 173 1001238351-I00174.tif 174 1001238351-I00175.tif 175 1001238351-I00176.tif 176 1001238351-I00177.tif 177 1001238351-I00178.tif 178 1001238351-I00179.tif 179 1001238351-I00180.tif 180 1001238351-I00181.tif 181 1001238351-I00182.tif 182 A study of three Black Power narratives as instruments for radical social change Angela Davis, Assata Shakur (a.k.a. JoAnne Chesimard), and Elaine Brown are the only women activists of the Black Power movement who have published book-length autobiographies. In bearing witness to that era, these militant newsmakers wrote in part to educate and to mobilize their anticipated readers. In this way, Davis's __Angela Davis: An Autobiography__ (1974), Shakur's __Assata__ (1987), and Brown's __A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story__ (1992) can all be read as extensions of the writers' political activism during the 1960s. Margo V. Perkins's critical analysis of their books is less a history of the movement (or of women's involvement in it) than an exploration of the politics of storytelling for activists who choose to write their lives. Perkins examines how activists use autobiography to connect their lives to those of other activists across historical periods, to emphasize the link between the personal and the political, and to construct an alternative history that challenges dominant or conventional ways of knowing. The histories constructed by these three women call attention to the experiences of women in revolutionary struggle, particularly to the ways their experiences have differed from men's. The women's stories are told from different perspectives and provide different insights into a movement that has been much studied from the masculine perspective. At times they fill in, complement, challenge, or converse with the stories told by their male counterparts, and in doing so, hint at how the present and future can be made less catastrophic because of women's involvement. The multiple complexities of the Black Power movement become evident in reading these women's narratives against each other as well as against the sometimes strikingly different accounts of their male counterparts. As Davis, Shakur, and Brown recount events in their lives, they dispute mainstream assumptions about race, class, and gender and reveal how the Black Power struggle profoundly shaped their respective identities. Recipient of Mississippi University for Women's Eudora Welty Prize, 1999 Margo V. Perkins is an assistant professor of English and American studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. The Black Arts Movement : Let Me Count The Ways -- Dysfunctional Functionality : Collaboration At Its Best In The Black Arts Era -- Women Writing Kinship In Chicago's Black Arts Movement -- Mirrors Of Deception : Invisible, Untouchable, Beautiful Blackness In Johari Amini's Black Art -- Muddying Clear Waters : Carolyn Rodgers's Black Art -- Building A Home, Building A Nation : Family In The City And Beyond In Angela Jackson's Black Art -- Mixing Metaphors : Spirituality, Environmentalism, And Dystopia In Carolyn Rodgers's And Angela Jackson's Postrace Back Art -- Conclusion : You Remind Me ... Post-bam/soul Reflections. Carmen L. Phelps. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 165-182) And Index. A disproportionate number of male writers continue to be credited for constructing the iconic and ideological foundations for what would be perpetuated as the Black Art Movement. In this study, Carmen L. Phelps examines the work of several women artists working in Chicago, a key focal point for the energy and production of the movement.