ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the genesis and growth of the African-American women’s movement(s), its peculiar jeopardies, multiple consciousnesses, conflicts, and multiple identities. The African-American women’s movement is unique vis-à-vis its counterparts owing to its multiple burdens of race, gender and class, which form an interlocking, three-tiered system of oppression, constantly interacting in complex modes, thereby impacting deeply the consciousness of African-American women. Race, gender and class issues form the nucleus of all African-American women’s writings. A study of the genesis of the African-American women’s movement and the complex modes of its percolation into American thought would pave the way for an enhanced perception of this particular women’s movement. The creativity of African-American women assumes myriad forms, like their spirituals, lullabies, songs, music, dance, etc. The spiritual inheritance of African-American women contributes to their holistic existence, countering the multiple, hegemonistic factors that seek to transform them into better human beings.
