Demita Frazier
Demita Frazier | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Northeastern University (JD) |
| Occupation(s) | Independent Scholar, Writer, Social Justice Activist |
| Movement | Black Feminism |
Demita Frazier is a Black Feminist, thought leader, writer, teacher, and social justice activist.[1][2] She is a founding member of the Combahee River Collective (CRC).[3] While it has been more than forty years since the Combahee River Collective released their Black Feminist Statement,[4] Frazier has remained committed to the "lifetime of work and struggle"[4] for liberation for all.
Early life and activism
[edit]As a child of the Fifties, Frazier attributes the events during the years of 1967-1969, including but not limited to the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement and the Women's Movement, as a "political awakening" for her.[5] One text was particularly influential for Frazier, which was Woman Power: The Movement for Women's Liberation by Celestine Ware.
Frazier began her lifelong commitment to activism by opposing the Vietnam War in high school. After leaving traditional school settings to pursue her own independent studies, Frazier participated in political organizing and activism with the Chicago Black Panther's Breakfast Program and the Jane Collective.[5] Frazier eventually moved to Boston and continued organizing there. In Boston, she connected with other founding members of the CRC, Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith, through the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO).[5] The CRC was an evolution of the NBFO. In addition to her organizing and activism, Frazier obtained her Juris Doctor from Northeastern University.[2]
Combahee River Collective
[edit]The CRC solidified the foundation that broadened the Black feminism perspective with their founding in 1974.[1] The group's name came from the heroic actions of Harriet Tubman, who solely led a campaign that freed more than 750 slaves at South Carolina's Combahee River in 1863.[1] The overall mission of the CRC was to inform society of the lived experiences of African-American women. The released their "Combahee River Collective Statement in 1974.[4] Their statement includes the first usage of identity politics and was an important contribution to the concept in critical theory.[5]
As a founding member of the Combahee River Collective , Frazier intellectual labor is referenced every time the CRC name is uttered. One of the largest contributions of the CRC statement is the recognition of "intersecting oppressions" prior to the coining of the term intersectionality by Kimberlé Crenshaw. Which Frazier says in Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's (Ed.) book, How We Get Free that she noted in "probably our third or fourth draft of the statement, I said,...we stand at the intersection where our identities are indivisible."[5]
The CRC and their statement defined Black Feminism then and their words and legacy continue to shape it presently. For Frazier, "Black Feminism is a representation of Black women's power. Black women's agency. Black women's right to look at their material conditions, analyze it, interrogate it, and come away with an analysis that's about empowerment."[5]
References to the contributions and impact of the CRC can be found throughout the canon of Black Feminist Thought in works such as Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought edited by Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought edited by Briona Simone Jones.
The Combahee River Collective disbanded in 1980 and Frazier wrote the group's final statement, alongside Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith.[5]
Later life
[edit]Frazier has taught and lectured throughout the New England region, most recently at Bunker Hill Community College.[6]
On the subject of intergenerational coalition, Frazier stated in a 2017 roundtable:
"...I dream of deep listening across the generations, both to what we find easy to say and to that with which we struggle mightily...Organizing for political change is hard work, particularly in coalition, and core issues--the ability to deeply listen, to tolerate ambiguity and paradox, to demonstrate respect in the ways that are most meaningful when working across and through difference---take a kind of discipline that takes leadership and time to develop."[6]
In that same roundtable when asked of how she keeps going in the work of liberation, Frazier said:
"I am unwilling to give up this fight for freedom, for all people, especially Black people, and I am inspired by the many humans I share this planet with who are committed to that struggle. So many quietly brave, unwavering people have shared the struggle for freedom. I am allied with that energy."[6]
Frazier continues to dismantle the myth of white supremacy, by working to end misogynoir, hetero-patriarchal hegemony, and undermining late stage capitalism.[2] She is a practicing unallied Buddhist, committed to embodied loving kindness.[2] When she isn't working she enjoys working in her garden and cooking.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Black, Feminist, Revolutionary: Remembering the Combahee River Collective - EBONY". www.ebony.com. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
- ^ a b c d e "About – Demita Frazier". Archived from the original on 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. Collier-Thomas, Bettye., Franklin, V. P. (Vincent P.), 1947-. New York: New York University Press. 2001. ISBN 0814716024. OCLC 46500340.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ a b c Combahee River Collective (2019-01-01). "A Black Feminist Statement". Monthly Review: 29–36. doi:10.14452/mr-070-08-2019-01_3. ISSN 0027-0520. S2CID 239308920.
- ^ a b c d e f g (EDT), Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta (2017). HOW WE GET FREE : Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. Consortium Book Sales & Dist. ISBN 978-1-60846-855-3. OCLC 1014297168.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c "Gender, Race, and Generations: A Roundtable Discussion | Wellesley Centers for Women". www.wcwonline.org. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- African-American feminists
- American Buddhists
- American feminists
- Living people
- American socialists
- History of women's rights in the United States
- Members of the Combahee River Collective
- American lesbians
- Lesbian feminists
- African-American LGBTQ people
- Second-wave feminism in the United States
- Activists from Chicago
- Buddhist activists
- 21st-century African-American people
- 21st-century African-American women
- 21st-century American LGBTQ people
- Buddhist feminists
- African-American Buddhists
- 21st-century African-American writers
- 21st-century African-American educators
- 21st-century American Buddhists
- Lesbian Buddhists