(as defined by the oxford companion to african american literature; eds Williams Andrews, Frances SMith Forster, and Trudier Harris {r.i.p})

"introduced and explicated by alice walker in In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983), "womanism" refers to african american feminism or the feminism of women of color.... a womanist, according to walker, loves women, womanhood, and women's culture. sometimes a sexual and/or platonic lover of men, a womanist is committed to the welfare of an entire people and claims the universality and diversity of the black race. a womanist, moreover, values salient characteristics of the african american experience in general and loves herself. Finally, according to walker, womanism is an empowered form of feminism just as purple is a bold and empowered version of lavender.

in its general usage, womanism is generally understood to address the triple impact of sex, race, and class on african american women and to compensate for the traditional shortcomings of feminist and african american liberation discourse that have routinely excluded the peculiar needs of african american women. while feminism has disregarded issues of race and class, african american liberation theory has ignored issues of gender and class...."

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purr