bell hooks, author and activist, has died

hooks was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1952, and published more than 30 books in her lifetime, covering topics such as race, feminism, capitalism, and intersectionality.

She had been ill and was surrounded by friends and family when she passed, according to a press release from her niece, Ebony Motley. hooks taught at Berea College in Kentucky, a liberal arts college that offers free tuition.

Born Gloria Jean Watkins to Veodis and Rosa Bell Watkins, the fourth of seven siblings, hooks attended segregated schools in Christian County, then went on to Stanford University in California. hooks adopted her maternal great-grandmother’s name as a way to honor her, but used lowercase letters in order to place the focus on her works, the “substance of books, not who I am.”

hooks taught at numerous schools, including Yale University, Oberlin College, and City College of New York. In 2004, she returned to Kentucky to teach at Berea College. Her book, “Belonging: A Culture of Place,” discussed her move back. In 2010, the school opened the bell hooks Institute at Berea College. The institute houses her collection of contemporary African-American art, personal artifacts and copies of her books.

Read hooks poem, “Appalachian Elegy,” at www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148751/appalachian-elegy-1-6

Her first major work was Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism, published in 1981. With this book, hooks challenged the way readers viewed feminism and race. Like James Baldwin, Angela Davis, and Maya Angelou, she brought the Black community’s stories to the forefront through her brilliant writing.

hooks received numerous awards, honors, and international fame for her works as a poet, author, feminist, professor, cultural critic, and social activist. In 2018 she was inducted into the Kentucky Writers’ Hall of Fame.

Worth Reading

10 books by bell hooks on feminism, race, love, and class.

Ain’t I a Woman (1981)
The effect of racism and sexism on Black women, the civil rights movement, and feminist movements from suffrage to the 1970s.

Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)
A response to the need for theory that takes into account gender, race, and class.

Teaching To Transgress (1994)
Education as the practice of freedom.

Killing Rage (1995)
Essays by hooks envisioning a world without racism.

Bone Black (1996)
hooks experiences as a poor, Black girl growing up in racially segregated Kentucky.

Where We Stand (2000)
The widening gap between rich and poor.

Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics (2000)
An open hearted, inspiring, and welcoming vision of gender, sexuality, and society.

All About Love (2000)
The truth about love and inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces.

Communion: The Female Search for Love (2002)
The search for love as the heroic journey we must all choose to be truly free.

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (2004)
Designed to help men reclaim the best part of themselves.

bell hooks & john a. powell in discussion: “Belonging Through Connection, Connecting Through Love: Oneself, the Other, and the Earth.” From the 2015 Othering & Belonging Conference.