BEHIND MOVEMENT
Previous to Womanism's creation, Black women did not have a shared outlet to express their beauty, pain, culture and struggles. Inside of the house black women where home makers. Their husbands didn't take them seriously and in some cases abused them, while they were trying to raise a family.
Outside of the house the situation wasn't any better. Before contemporary feminism women as a whole weren't taken seriously, but that was a painful truth for black women. Unlike white women who were seen as too delicate to do much, black women were branded as trash. A being simply there to play with. Black women had no respect.
Womanism is a celebration of everything black women have done and demonstrates a love for black women. There is a system of support in the community of black women that uplifts each other. Even in the midst of ridiculous adversity such as skin shading black women managed to stick together. Black women during 1982 benefited from the theory of Womanism, black women needed to be recognized for everything that they brought. When the theory of Womanism came out, it completely shifted the attitude of black women, “Black females were supposedly denigrated by being referred to as ‘women’ rather than ‘ladies.’ However, the connotations of "women" within the black community have become positive ones, asserting and affirming the value in females of adult qualities such as ability, independence, creativity, loving, and strength.” (e.g. Deborah K. King, Womanish, Womanism, Womanist, Studies Encyclopedia)
Womanism has had a lasting impact on on the black community and an even bigger impact of the community of black women. While most contemporary theorist have decided that womanism is almost obsolete. During its development and after its initial impact it seemed as though womanism wasn’t going to catch on. By the 80’s many black women became avid participants in the general fight for feminism. Bell Hooks gave an excellent explanation in Everyone can be a Feminist, “Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. This was a definition of feminism I offered in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center more than 10 years ago. It was my hope at the time that it would become a common definition everyone would use.” The aftermath of the civil rights movement seemed to have died down and the American people were finally ready for unity. Feminism was a way of uniting different groups of women together to fight.
The intentions of feminism had no ill intent, but the theory only ended up applying to one group of women, white women. While I can’t say that that particular wave of feminism did much for black women. “This wave unfolded in the context of the anti-war and civil rights movements and the growing self-consciousness of a variety of minority groups around the world.” (Rampton, par. 5) The second wave of feminism, which lasted from 1960-1980, was meant to be more inclusive, but ultimately fell short. The idea is was that the civil rights movement was over and women of all classes and races wanted to be equal, but the minority race was still dealing with the effects of the civil rights movement and other forms of discrimination. It brought up friendly conversations of race within feminism. After the conversation came up, there was a slight divide between the two races. It wasn’t serious enough to drive a huge wedge, which is where womanism came into play. There are countless ways that womanism changed our society. Every aspect of black culture was impacted, from theology all the way to hip hop culture.