Episode 5: Intersectionality Re-rooted

View a transcript (PDF)

Episode Notes

What is intersectionality and how does it help us understand the way oppression works in society? In this episode, Crystal and Krystal discuss the concept of intersectionality as defined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw and the longer history of its usage. Guests Raquel Willis, Barbara Smith, and Dr. Duchess Harris help enrich our understanding of where the concept came from and the way it has evolved over time.

Photo (above): Grassroots march for Gay Pride with emphasis on Black Lives and Trans Lives. Organized by Brave Space Alliance, The National Trans March, Gay Liberation Network, CAARPR in Chicago, IL on June 28, 2020. Photo by Antoine McMullen/Shutterstock.com.

Production Credit

The podcast is produced in partnership with Smithsonian Enterprises Digital. Our production team is Jenna Hanchard, Taylor Polydore, Ann Conanan, and Alana Gomez. Special thanks to Dr. Modupe Labode and Dr. Tony Perry. 

Resources

AP News. “Members of Congress Highlight Missing Minority Women, Girls.” March 3, 2022. https://apnews.com/article/united-states-race-and-ethnicity-maryland-congress-ebf95921d84b4cf31067ebef0e6c93ce.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics,” University of Chicago Legal Forum 1 (1989): 139–67. 

--. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6 (1991): 1241–99. 

--. “TED Talk: The Urgency of Intersectionality,” December 7, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. “2020 NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics.” https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/2020-ncic-missing-person-and-unidentified-person-statistics.pdf/view.

“Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades Later.” Columbia Law School. June 8, 2017. https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality-more-two-decades-later.

Pruitt-Young, Sharon. “Tens Of Thousands of Black Women Vanish Each Year. This Website Tells Their Stories.” NPR, September 24, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/24/1040048967/missing-black-women-girls-left-out-media-ignored. 

Collected is funded by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Museum of American History.