Eloquent Rage

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
TitleEloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2018
AuthorCooper, Brittney
Number of Pages275
PublisherSt. Martin's Press
CityNew York, New York
Publication LanguageEnglish
ISBN or ASIN Number 1250112575
KeywordsAfrican American Writers, Biography, black feminism, black women, Feminist Theory
URLhttps://www.amazon.com/Eloquent-Rage-Feminist-Discovers-Superpower/dp/1250112575/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519682061&sr=1-1&keywords=eloquent+rage
Copies at the Archive1

Joy Reid, Cosmopolitan: "A dissertation on black women’s pain and possibility; an autobiography of a black woman’s complicated dance with feminism, overcoming otherness as a big black girl in a skinny-white-girl world, her mother’s triumph over violence, and her own journey from disappointment to black joy." 

Melissa Harris Perry says: “I was waiting for an author who wouldn’t forget, ignore, or erase us black girls as they told their own story...I was waiting and she has come―in Brittney Cooper.” 

Michael Eric Dyson says: “Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today. Her critique is sharp, her love of Black people and Black culture is deep, and she will make you laugh out loud.” 

Rebecca Traister says: "Brittney Cooper is a national treasure."

Mychal Denzel Smith says: "Brittney Cooper is the Black Feminist Prophet we urgently need." 

So what if it’s true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.

Far too often, Black women’s anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women’s eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It’s what makes Beyoncé’s girl power anthems resonate so hard. It’s what makes Michelle Obama an icon. 

Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.