Third, and relatedly, her account of the role that black women, as a collective, must play in producing feminist theory and praxis was diagnostic (she offered examples of what she wanted to see), prefigurative (she did what she told us to do), and prescient (black women did that). Second, her definition of feminism holds up remarkably well: it is a “struggle to eliminate all forms of oppression” ( 2015, 36). It is the best and most effective way to canonize her. The first is very straightforward: I should teach a class on bell hooks. On this rereading, I was struck by several things. In fact, they are perhaps more powerful for me now, as someone who has taken up hooks's call, who teaches and advances feminist theory. Its insights are as powerful for me now as they were for me at 18. It is a pleasure and a privilege to return to the book now, on the occasion of its 35th anniversary. She did not speak of the needs of women without men, without children, without homes … She did not tell readers whether it was more fulfilling to be a maid, a babysitter, a factory worker, a clerk, or a prostitute than to be a leisure-class housewife. Did not discuss who would be called in to take care of the children and maintain the home if more women like herself were freed from their house labor and given equal access with white men to the professions.
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