Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)

Studies - András Tarnóc: Voices From the Wild Zone: Three Versions of the Feminist Aesthetic in American Culture

holding the family together in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" (1959), and by Bigger Thomas' mother in Richard Wright's Native Son (1940) or by Granny in Wright's Black Boy (1945). The black male view of black women is nonetheless offensive, suffice it to refer to LeRoi Jones' derogatory comments," I have slept with almost every mediocre colored woman," (qtd. in Smith 202) or Ishmael Reed's complaint over the meager sales of his books: "Maybe if I was one of those young female (sic) Afro-American writers that are so hot now, I'd sell more. You know, fill my books with ghetto women , who can do no wrong (sic)" (qtd. in Smith....Toward A Black Feminist ....173). Finally, another damaging image of black womanhood, being a traitor to the Black Power Movement, or a "female Uncle Tom," is presented by Jimmy Garrett's 1968 drama, "We Own The Night." Black and white feminism share a common historic background as both are products of the society-wide upheaval of the 1960's. While both movements base their origin on earlier events, the abolition struggle of the 1830's and the enslavement experience respectively, the second stage of American feminism paved the way for the emergence of its black counterpart. In 1973 black women dejected over the racism of their white peers broke away from the feminist movement to establish the National Black Feminist Organization. The other axis of creation was the Black Power Movement from which, alienated by the movement's sexism, many black women separated. A third foundation of black feminism is the everyday life of black women, who similarly to white women became aware of their captivity in the "feminine mystique" (Smith 272-74). Unlike its white middle class counterpart, black feminism is not an umbrella term for essentialism-oriented social and cultural criticism. The movement's primary concern is the elimination of the "triple jeopardy," the interlocking system of race, class, and gender-based subordination. One of the movement's primary goals is to fight for the recognition of black women's humanity: "We reject pedestals, queenhood, and walking ten paces behind. To be recognized as human, levelly human, is enough" (Smith 275). Black feminism, demonstrated by its concept of rape of a black woman by a white man, introduces the notion of racial-sexual oppression. Here a wedge issue is used and the scope of rape expands from a political to a racial crime. Black feminism, singling out capitalism and patriarchy as the 109