ABSTRACT
On October 18, 1991, I gave the keynote address at the annual meeting of the North Central Women’s Studies Association. I was asked to speak on “Acknowledging Differences: Can Women Find Unity Through Diversity?”1 That issue is neither trivial nor uncommon in feminist discourse today. After years of seeming not to understand the complaints of Black and Third World feminists, large numbers of white feminists are genuinely concerned about the meanings of sisterhood between themselves and feminists (as well as all women) of color. The invitation to address a regional Women’s Studies meeting on the subject was part of an effort by those women and me seriously to explore this problem.
