When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula J. Giddings

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When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula J. Giddings


                    Everything has a historical context. It’s important to understand and recognize that fact. All of the movements we’re seeing today have a historical context. We’ll take the Women’s March for example. There was quite a bit of criticism leveled at the Women’s March because of its approach to intersectional feminism and what that would mean moving forward. Those criticisms were valid and rooted in the history of women’s movements. This book is a comprehensive look at Black women’s participation in liberation movements throughout the history of the United States. It looks not only at their participation in liberation of women but their participation in the liberation of Black people as a whole. It also stresses that for Black women especially, the fight for equally has meant an assault from all sides. From white women not taking into account the issues important to Black women because they didn’t want to focus on race, to Black men not concerning themselves with the uplifting of Black women in the fight and in many instances asking women to give up their independence in order for the man to have dominance.

                     I thought Giddings did a great job in structuring this book and in providing context for the information provided. The information is provided chronologically, which I found to be extremely helpful. In my opinion it’s important to understand where you’ve been in order to appreciate where you’re going. Diggings decision to provide everything chronologically made sense. Especially when patterns became obvious that regardless of the strides that had been made some of the same biases rear their ugly heads as time passes. This book as a whole does a great job of highlighting the work of Black women throughout history in many different forms and fashion. It takes a comprehensively look at the work that has been done and at the time of its original printing in the 1980s, the work that still needs to be done. If you’re at all interested in the history of Black women and the work they’ve put in towards equality then this book is a great introduction. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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