And am I not a woman?

The first book by Black writer and activist bell hooks.

A classic of feminist theory , And Aren't I a Woman? has become required reading for people interested in issues related to black womanhood and the construction of a world without sexist and racial oppression .

Sojourner Truth , a Black woman who had been enslaved and became an orator after her freedom in 1827, denounced at the Women's Convention in 1851—in the speech that became known as "Ain't I a Woman" —that the activism of wealthy white suffragists and abolitionists excluded poor Black women. Using Truth's speech, which gives the book its title, hooks discusses the racism and sexism present in the civil rights and feminist movements , from the suffrage era to the 1970s.

In addition to examining the impact of sexism on Black women during slavery, the devaluation of Black womanhood, the sexism of both white and Black men, racism among feminists, the stereotypes attributed to Black women, the imperialism of patriarchy, and Black women's engagement with feminism, hooks aims to push our thinking beyond racist and sexist assumptions . The result is a revolutionary work , an essential book for all who struggle to make the world a place free from oppression based on race, color, class, and gender.