Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

In 1981, Black feminist scholar and writer Audre Lorde gave a keynote address at the National Women’s Studies Association Third Annual Conference. The title of her talk was “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism.” Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower is in dialogue with Lorde’s address.

In her address, Lorde characterizes anger as a legitimate response to racism and oppression. That feeling only builds as Black women encounter racism in public spaces, at jobs, and in entertainment. When white feminists attempt to suppress this legitimate anger or call out Black women for highlighting racism within feminist organizations, white feminists are perpetuating the overlapping oppressions of racism and sexism. When Black women express their rage with intention, it serves as a disruptive force that accelerates change. It is not the same thing as hatred.

Dr. Brittney Cooper endorses Lorde’s perspective on rage and expands on it by exploring the importance of rage in her own life and in Black popular culture. Cooper relies on and revises Lorde’s concept of orchestrated rage to frame her discussion of the limitations of muted, decorous expressions of rage.

Lorde is a foundational figure in Black feminist studies, so her influence on Cooper is apparent both in the content and rhetorical moves Cooper makes in her argument. For example, Lorde uses storytelling and personal experience to support her arguments. Lorde also situates her arguments in the context of intersectional feminism, feminism that acknowledges how overlapping social and political identities can result in one person being both privileged and disadvantaged. Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower is laden with autobiographical detail that helps Cooper speak directly to the lived experience of her readers, and she frequently uses intersectionality as a framework for understanding those experiences.

Despite these connections, Cooper’s work in this book and Lorde’s in the “Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism” have some key differences. The original rhetorical context for “The Uses of Anger: Women Respond to Racism” is a conference with a substantial number of white and female academics in the audience. Cooper’s primary audience is the Black and female general reader, and she decenters white women and academic feminism with greater ease because of the foundational work of Black feminists such as Lorde.

Cooper’s feminism also differs in terms of her objects of analysis. Lorde briefly talks about Amos ’n’ Andy, a popular 1950s television show that includes dehumanizing stereotypes of Black people. Examination of figures from popular culture consumes more space in Cooper’s work, a reflection of her desire to show that Black feminism is a powerful tool for non-academics. Cooper also has the benefit of being able to consider prominent contemporary Black women such as Venus and Serena Williams, Michelle Obama, and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter due to the platforms these women and their fans/supporters have created. Overall, Cooper builds on and extends Lorde’s work to speak to the concerns of Black women today.