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.