bell hooks (intentional lowercase usage) characterizes the plight of black women in America in her book Ain't I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism. She explores the origins of the oppression of American black women. As recipients of two forms of discrimination, they are oppressed by both men and the white population. hooks argues that these women have gotten the short end of the stick for too long to be ignored. She builds her arguments in a way that leaves readers gently convinced of the unacceptable status quo.
Since slavery, black women have been considered the lowest in society. Even amongst the slaves, the women were considered less valuable and weaker. After slavery, these ideas had seeped so deeply into the roots of society that they endured beyond the institution of ownership. These women, thus, were told they were free but still just as inferior to men as before. They shared in the ongoing racism and the ever-demanding sexism of American history. Today, they still are treated as outsiders. In the feminist movement, the black woman's voice has been subjected to the much loud white woman's so that one testimony still remains undelivered in the grand social conversation of oppression. In much the same way, black people still experience prejudice daily in this country. America is no less free of racism than it is of greed. African American women, then, receive two short ends of the same stick.
hooks crafts her arguments in a confidential manner. She does not fit the socially stigmatized mold of an "angry black woman." She's a rational, kind person trying to provide a voice for those who've been denied a voice for centuries now. In a way, her tone is maternal. She's correcting her children for saying the wrong thing to an adult they don't know well at their parent's party. Only her child in this case is America, and the party is society. By speaking the way she does, hooks places herself in a gentle position of authority and devotion.
