Womanism

Womanism or womanist, as it was originally coined in 1983, was crafted by novelist Alice Walker in her book In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose to define expressions of black feminism and the feminism of other women of color. Since its creation, Walker's definition of womanist has come to encompass many contours and dimensions.

In theory, womanism affirms and articulates a standpoint emanating from the social change experiences of black women and other women of color such as the Combahee River Collective and the Black Women's Health Project, as well as the undertakings of Harriet Tubman to negotiate passage on the Underground Railroad. Although Walker's original dictionary-style definition of womanism commented on the uniqueness of black women's experiences, expressed some of the similarities ...