I don’t know about you, but I like to start my week off with some knowledge and feel-good food-for-thought. That being said, I’ve decided to dedicate Mondays to sharing and highlighting spoken word pieces that I find provocative and inspiring.

Here’s a piece someone shared with me just this past Friday.

I couldn’t help but think back on my old college days when I realized I had never considered myself to be a feminist, nor had I been taught to do so by other women in my family. My own mother raised me with the understanding, “Before you ever open your mouth, people will see that you are black, they will notice you are a women second after that. You’ve already got two strikes against you before you’ve even said a word.”

Little did I know, but there’s some interesting history between black Civil Rights activists, Gay Rights activists, and the Feminist movement. Turns out, I was not the first, nor only African-American female to feel alienated or without place within the Feminist movement. I’ve since reconciled my feelings through research, analysis, and understanding; but I know for a fact that there other black women out there who still share or did share my questions and feelings at first. Check out this piece I wrote two years ago to the day entitled, “the state of the black feminist union.”

Enjoy!