The enduring legacy and influence of the iconic Black feminist writer and cultural critic bell hooks

BY PAUL JUNOR

The death of bell hooks on Wednesday, December 15^th, 2021 has evoked widespread reactions from mainstream press all over the world. There have been tributes expressed in the: New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Toronto Star and others. Her death at the age of 69 will no doubt leave an insurmountable void to those who were touched by her over forty books, essays, writings and articles. She is known as one of the most influential Black feminist thinkers whose understanding of feminism influenced and impacted the way that gender, class, race are understood.

She was born Gloria Jean Watkins on September 25^th, 1952 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky and adopted the name bell blair hooks in honour of her maternal great-grandmother. She wrote her name in lower case as a resistance to patriarchal authority. She studied at Stanford University where she earned her Bachelor and Doctorate degrees. She subsequently taught at Oberlin College, City College of New York, and University of Southern California and at Santa Cruz and Berea College in Kentucky.

Her first book, “Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism” was written in 1981. On a May 13^th, 2004 Now Magazine’s article by Sarah Lius argues that the book provides a powerful challenge to stereotypical depictions of Black women throughout history and shows the pervasive sexism of the Black liberation movement. For hooks, feminism is a “Movement to end sexism, sexual exploitation and oppression.”

In much of her writings, hooks shows that the tentacles of patriarchy have extended its reaches in all aspects of society. She coined the term, “White supremacist capitalist imperialist patriarchy,” to reflect her understanding that the belief that White people are superior dominant race is in collusion with the unequal economic and social system of capitalism, which is undergirded by the male-dominated power-based structures of patriarchy.

On a personal level, while much of hook’s writing and work is centered on Black women, she later wrote books in order to engage male readers into conversations and discussions about dismantling the chains of sexism, which permeate patriarchal institutions. Two of her books, “We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity,” and “The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love,” drew attention to the role that abusive critical patriarchy played in many men’s lives. For hooks, love transcended romantic notions and was an act of liberal freedom marked by openness, vulnerability, transparency and honesty. She writes “Everyone needs to love and be loved, but to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from living.”

There is optimism, hope and faith reflected in hooks’ conceptions of the transcendent power of love. She “Believes that men can find ways to spiritual unity by getting back in touch with the emotionally open part of themselves and lay claim to the rich and rewarding inner lives that have been the exclusive province of women.”

I was in awe of hooks when I attended a lecture by her at York University a few years ago. I was deeply impacted by her notions of love as a means to bring hope, power and faith in the midst of social activism.