![]() ![]() Inniss-Thompson, Cooper emphasized the love and grace that she chooses to extend to Black women. In answering both questions from the audience and questions from Dr. Representative Barbara Lee described the situation as indicating a lack of respect towards Black women at the highest levels. ![]() Individuals gradually dropped out of the race, leaving mostly white candidates. The Democratic race for the Presidential nomination saw many disappointed with the Democratic National Convention for not putting their support or trust in diverse candidates, specifically Black women. Politics that ask Black women to devalue and neglect themselves are futile. That rage and Black rage are not the same.Ĭooper returns to the second question of June Jordan’s near the end of her lecture: “where is the love?” Cooper identifies love as an essential part of rage-based work and existence. Secondly, Cooper clarifies that not all rage is equal the rage exhibited by those who staged a coup at the Capitol Building on Januis the rage of those who see power slipping from their grip and are coming face to face with the mortality of white supremacy. The expectation for women to be polite and kind all the time is not only inhibiting to women-specifically Black women who are rightfully rageful-but can also be dangerous for women who are harassed and hassled in society. ![]() This falls into an increasingly prominent narrative within the feminist movement that women do not need to earn their equality by being polite. Eloquent rage is simply a tool to help Black women get specific about their rage. She is not asking Black women to be elegant, pretty, or polite about their rage. First, Cooper states that eloquent rage and elegant rage are not the same. Cooper spoke to the performativity that she witnesses in Black feminist circles and encouraged listeners to exist honestly in those spaces and not allow others expectations for how “woke” Black women should act to influence their actions.Ĭooper makes two key clarifications in her statements regarding Black rage. She referred to this work and the process of writing it as a journey of “all the ways that Black women know.” In connecting her earlier book with her more recent work entitled Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, Cooper referred to respectability as merely a rage management project.Īt the core of Cooper’s lecture was an endorsement of righteousness and justice in the rage of Black women. Cooper explained that “reclaiming my right to be mad as hell was a prerequisite for any project of freedom.”Ĭooper also spoke of her first book, Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women, as her seeking to join a tradition of Black feminist scholars who insist that Black women’s intellectual production and theorizing were essential. In tackling the “where is the rage,” Cooper discussed the foundational elements that have allowed her to produce her work. Cooper went on to frame her lecture around two central questions on which June Jordan focused: “where is the rage and where is the love?”Ĭooper described herself as someone who greatly emphasized following in others traditions and being inspired by other Black women and as such took great care to honor June Jordan’s approach to Black women’s rage. Particularly, she mentioned June Jordan, a Jamaican-American poet, essayist, and activist whose work centered around issues of race, gender, and liberation. ![]() While she settled upon “Eloquent Rage,” she revealed that she had strongly considered going with “The Justice of Our Rage.” Just or righteous rage is a concept that Cooper continued to elaborate on.Ĭooper discussed the various events that took place in 2020 and how she chose to spend her time filling her spirit by consuming the works of good writers, artists, and thinkers. Cooper began by discussing her thoughts behind the title of the event. Since the topic of this year’s lecture dealt with Black women specifically, the lecture was co-sponsored by the African American and Diaspora Studies Department.įollowing her greeting to the audience, Dr. The Martha Cuninggim Women’s Center hosts their Cuninggim Lecture on Women in Culture and Society each year, however, last year’s lecture was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19. Claudine Taaffe, Senior Lecturer in African American and Diaspora Studies, and Misha Inniss-Thompson, doctoral student in Human and Organization Development, offered their own questions and shared questions from the live audience. Cooper presented a lecture entitled “Eloquent Rage: The Power of the Angry Black Woman.” Following the lecture, Vanderbilt’s Dr. Cooper as the speaker for the 2021 Cuninggim Lecture. Cooper is a cultural theorist, activist, author, and Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. Brittney Cooper encourages all Black women to embrace their rightful rage and use it as a tool, calling this practice “eloquent rage.” Dr. ![]()
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