Mom & Me & Mom

The rise of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s added momentum to Black women’s creative work. These women’s participation in the Women’s Liberation Movement defined their artistic expression. They developed their own politics and theory of womanhood to express their historical and lived experiences. The 1970s marked a significant period in Black women’s writing—the Black Women’s Literary Renaissance. Many Black women were part of the Black Arts Movement that developed alongside the Black Power Movement, emphasizing Black culture and pride. While much of the 1960s focused on political injustices, the 1970s connected the diverse realities of Black life and multiple forms of oppression—while seeking to empower Black identity and community. African American women in literature sought to change the established narrative around their lives by establishing their own voices. Their writing centralized Black womanhood and offered political criticism of mainstream Western culture, white supremacy, and capitalism. Black women also promoted the theory of intersectionality, considering a combination of racial, gendered, and class-based oppression rather than any single lens. Black women’s writing of the period captured the modern Black female experience, challenging the boundaries of American literary canon and expanding literary tradition. Important Black female writers of the period include Angelou, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. Angelou’s poetry and prose are a crucial part of this period, with her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), being her intimate narration of the Black female experience.