There are many words that can be used to describe bell hooks. Educator, activist, feminist, writer, professor, icon. bell hooks was educated in racially-segregated schools in 1950's Kentucky.
Her academic career and writing career took off nearly at the same time - she became a professor in 1976 and published her first work in 1978. However, it wasn't until 1981 when she published Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism that the world at large began to take sharper notice of bell hooks and her radical, relevant writing.
bell hooks' writing centred around the experience of Black women, specifically under the intersectional lens. Her examination of the white supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy, the devaluation of Black women, and the historical impact racism has had on Black women and communities shifted many people's perspectives.
Her push for intersectionality - specifically, examining how one's race, class, and gender conflict and affect one another and affect one's oppression - became what she was best known for. bell hooks' bibliography is full of important ideas and sobering truths. Her work will always be remembered for what it was - life changing.
Writer, activist, feminist. bell hooks has left an indelible mark on the world with her groundbreaking work.
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