Combahee River Collective
Black feminist lesbian organization / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Combahee River Collective (CRC) (/kəmˈbiː/ kəm-BEE)[1] was a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston, Massachusetts from 1974 to 1980.[2][3] The Collective argued that both the white feminist movement and the Civil Rights Movement were not addressing their particular needs as Black women and more specifically as Black lesbians.[4] Racism was present in the mainstream feminist movement, while Delaney and Manditch-Prottas argue that much of the Civil Rights Movement had a sexist and homophobic reputation.[5][6]
Abbreviation | CRC |
---|---|
Formation | 1974; 50 years ago (1974) |
Dissolved | 1980; 44 years ago (1980) |
Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
The Collective is perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement,[7][8] a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of identity politics as used among political organizers and social theorists,[9][10] and for introducing the concept of interlocking systems of oppression, including but not limited to gender, race, and homophobia, a fundamental concept of intersectionality.[11] Gerald Izenberg credits the 1977 Combahee statement with the first usage of the phrase "identity politics".[12] Through writing its statement, the CRC connected themselves to the activist tradition of Black women in the 19th Century and to the struggles of Black liberation in the 1960s.[13] The document embarked upon the separation of a gender-only focused feminism and highlighted the significance of interlocking systems of oppression.