We Were There

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What to expect

From 1970 to 1980, the Third World Women’s Alliance lived the dream of third world feminism. The small bicoastal organization was one of the earliest groups advocating for what came to be known as intersectional activism, arguing that women of color faced a “triple jeopardy” of race, gender, and class oppression. Rooted in the Black civil rights move­ment, the TWWA pushed the women’s movement to address issues such as sterilization abuse, infant mortality, welfare, and wage exploitation, and challenged third world activist organizations to address sexism in their ranks. Widely recognized as the era’s pri­mary voice for women of color, this alliance across ethnic and racial identities was unique then and now.

Interweaving oral history, scholarly and archival research, and first-person memoir, We Were There documents how the TWWA shaped and defined second wave feminism. Highlight­ing the essential contributions of women of color to the justice move­ments of the 1970s, this historical resource will inspire activists today and tomorrow, reminding a new generation that solidarity is the only way forward.

Critics Review

  • “We Were There…[is] an ever more valuable tool for evaluating structural malaise in a country that does its best to inoculate its inhabitants against the truth.”

    Al Jazeera
  • “This richly documented account rescues a critical chapter in the history of the feminist movement from obscurity.”

    Publishers Weekly
  • “Part history, part personal reflection, and part biography, written with a passion and immediacy that belies the span of time between the events and the telling.”

    Booklist
  • “Narrator Jeanette Illidge infuses the women’s first-person perspectives with vitality and care. In doing so, she creates the impression that their memories remain fresh and their passion and experiences are still close to their hearts.”

    AudioFile
  • “We are deeply indebted to Patricia Romney for helping to generate a record of the Alliance’s pioneering contributions, thus ensuring its revolutionary legacies live on.”

    Angela Davis, political activist, scholar, and author of Freedom Is a Constant Struggle

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