Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

Content Warning: This section of the book includes pejorative terms for Black people and women. These terms are preserved in quotes and titles only.

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower “is a book by a grown-ass woman written for other grown-ass women […] who know shit is fucked up” (1). American culture seeks to sanitize and contain Black women’s rage by calling it sass. People believe sass in funny, but they dismiss angry Black women. This is true even in Black communities. Dr. Brittney Cooper learned to mask her rage in professional settings because she worried anger would diminish her credibility. One of her students observed that the rage was still visible but was an “eloquent rage” that illuminated and inspired. Black women have rage because of trauma, fatigue with mistreatment, and the sense that they are invisible. Cooper looks to Black feminist Audre Lorde, who taught her that rage is political. Cooper identifies tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams as avatars of harnessing rage to become powerful.

After a “homegirl intervention”—straightforward criticism—from a college roommate and friend named Tracey, Cooper realized that feminism could be valuable to her intellectually and personally. While the academic study of feminism could help her make sense of her life, friendships with women like Tracey and the pragmatic wisdom of Cooper’s mother and grandmother would be equally important to her understanding of Black feminism.