ABSTRACT
The fourth chapter, “Black Feminist Funksters,” challenges interpretations of funk that mostly focus on funk’s major male figures, such as James Brown, Sly Stone, and George Clinton, among others. It argues that funk’s major female figures, such as Maxayn, Chaka Khan, and Betty Davis, among others, are often forgotten or overlooked. The chapter explores the ways that Black women’s funk frequently captured and conveyed striking aspects of a combination of the Black Power Movement, the Women’s Liberation Movement, and the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s (à la the Black political feminism of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement). By using Black musical feminism as a framework, here Black women’s feminism is placed in critical dialogue with Black women’s funk. Both 1970s Black feminism and Black women’s funk are shown to be interconnected and important mediums that reflected the ideals and ethos of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement. Primarily focusing on the work of Chaka Khan and Betty Davis, the undisputed “Queens of Funk,” the chapter emphasizes how their funk was emblematic of some of the ways Black women’s popular music in the 1970s reflected significant changes in Black feminist thought taking place during the peak years of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement.
