Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement / Edition 1

by Jennifer Nelson

Overview

Uncovers the truth behind the ideas, struggles, and eventually success of Black and Puerto Rican Nationalists regarding key feminist issues of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s

While most people believe that the movement to secure voluntary reproductive control for women centered solely on abortion rights, for many women abortion was not the only, or even primary, focus. Jennifer Nelson tells the story of the feminist struggle for legal abortion and reproductive rights in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s through the particular contributions of women of color. She explores the relationship between second-wave feminists, who were concerned with a woman's right to choose, Black and Puerto Rican Nationalists, who were concerned that Black and Puerto Rican women have as many children as possible “for the revolution,” and women of color themselves, who negotiated between them. Contrary to popular belief, Nelson shows that women of color were able to successfully remake the mainstream women's liberation and abortion rights movements by appropriating select aspects of Black Nationalist politics—including addressing sterilization abuse, access to affordable childcare and healthcare, and ways to raise children out of poverty—for feminist discourse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814758274
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2003
Pages:	225
Sales rank:	1,131,021
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Jennifer Nelson is Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Redlands (CA).

Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: From Abortion to Reproductive Rights
1 “Let’s hear it from the real experts”: Feminism and the Early Abortion Rights Movement
2 "An act of valor for a woman need not take place inside of her”: Black Women, Feminism,
and Reproductive Rights
3 “An instrument of genocide”: The Black Nationalist Campaign against Birth Control
4 “Abortions under community control”: Feminism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Reproduction among New York City’s Young Lords
5 Race, Class, and Sexuality: Reproductive Rights and the Campaign for an Inclusive Feminism
Conclusion
Notes
Index
About the Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A valuable contribution.”
-Feminist Collections

,

“A very fresh and strong contribution to emerging scholarship on the history of reproductive rights activism in the U.S.”
-Loretta Ross,Executive Director of the National Center for Human Rights Education

“Nelson presents the tip of the iceberg of the history of the involvement of women of color, specifically, African-American women and Latinas in the movements for rights.”
-Conscience

,

“This book is an important contribution to the growing reexamination of the women's health movement. This is a useful book, an interesting book, a book that tells our history.”
-Politics, Social Movements, and The State

Editorial Reviews

"A valuable contribution."

Feminist Collections

"This book is an important contribution to the growing reexamination of the women's health movement. This is a useful book, an interesting book, a book that tells our history."

Politics

"Nelson presents the tip of the iceberg of the history of the involvement of women of color, specifically, African-American women and Latinas in the movements for rights."

Conscience

"Nelson presents the tip of the iceberg of the history of the involvement of women of color, specifically, African-American women and Latinas in the movements for rights."

Conscience Renï

"A very fresh and strong contribution to emerging scholarship on the history of reproductive rights activism in the U.S."

Loretta Ross

This book is an important contribution to the growing reexamination of the women's health movement. This is a useful book, an interesting book, a book that tells our history.”
-Politics, Social Movements, and The State

“A valuable contribution.”
-Feminist Collections

“Nelson presents the tip of the iceberg of the history of the involvement of women of color, specifically, African-American women and Latinas in the movements for rights.”
-Conscience

“A very fresh and strong contribution to emerging scholarship on the history of reproductive rights activism in the U.S.”
-Loretta Ross,Executive Director of the National Center for Human Rights Education

From the Publisher