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A Black Woman's View Of Women's Liberation
An Interview with Brenda Eichelberger (undated
but probably 1975)
(Editors Note: Brenda Eichelberger was a founding member of the National
Black Feminist Organization. This interview was published in Secret
Storm, the publication of the CWLU Outreach Committee.)
Brenda Eichelberger is a black women who lives on the South side of
Chicago. She works as a counselor at Bryant Elementary School. Brenda
is a founding member of the National Black Feminist Organization. In
this interview, Secret Storm talked about being a black women
and her feelings and ideas about women's liberation.
SS: How did you first get interested in women's liberation?
Brenda: For as long as I can remember I've been a feminist,
even when I didn't know that word existed. My brother is very close
to my age, and when we were growing up I couldn't understand the benefits
he got. If he had been older then I might have understood, but he wasn't
that much older than me. For instance, he got the top bunk bed because
he was a boy, even though I wanted it. Then we both wanted a bike and
our family had only enough money for one, my brother got it. Also,
living in the city, I had housework to do but my brother had "no soil
to till.”
I really
got involved in women's liberation by reading about the National Black
Feminist Organization in the May, 1974, MS magazine. Before reading
that article, I didn't know any other black woman felt the way that
I did about feminism. I knew white women who were my friends, but they
didn't have the added oppression of race. A lot of black groups were
macho. I couldn't completely identify with any group. Anyway, all I
need to know was that one woman anywhere who felt like I did. I got
busy organizing the National Black Feminist Chapter in Chicago.
SS: What problems do you face as a black woman?
Brenda: From the standpoint of being black, black women live
in neighborhoods with lots of crime. Also, the guilty of goods and
services is poor. For example, clothing stores don't have much selection
or good quality clothes. Black women shop in groceries that stock poor
quality food at high prices. Black women have less chance to pick up
a good book or magazine to find out what's happening at the drugstore
because they have a poor selection mainly, "True Confessions, etc."
All the time you are aware of the very heavy security in stores.
Black women
are discriminated against in schools, jobs and health care. If you
are on welfare, you receive bad treatment. Most blacks must wait hours
in line before seeing a doctor. For years white upper and middle class
women could afford to get safe abortions. Black women either had a
child or had an unsafe abortion. Some black women have been sterilized
against their will or without even knowing what is being done to them.
Puerto Rican and black women were used as guinea pigs to test the "pill"
before it was marketed. Black women often are unknowing guinea pigs
in medical research. Black women have special health problems, like
a high rate of hypertension and an increasing suicide rate (80% in the
last 20 years).
From the
standpoint of the black woman, black men come out of a macho orientation.
Many black men feel that black women should stand behind them, not
beside them. This is hard to fight because black men are easily threatened
by women's independence. This is because society has a pecking order
and when a black man needs to vent anger or anxiety he'll take it out
on the one group lower than he is - the black woman. The NBFO is setting
up consciousness raising groups (rap groups) for black men. Black men
and women have to learn to live and work together with respect. We
also work with predominately white groups if we have the same goal.
SS: What can black women do?
Brenda: Get into an organization like the NBFO. You
have to work with other women to change things. If black women don't
stand up and do together what we've been trying to do individually,
we will only get small successes like a college degree, a house, or
a good job. These small successes make some black women feel that they're
better than others. In this way, the space between people is widened
when we should be closing it. This is how we are kept oppressed.
SS: How has NBFO changed your life?
Brenda: I met really great women I couldn't have met anywhere else.
I could never have this great a relationship with another woman as
I do with women in NBFO. I get high knowing that black women, the most
oppressed group in America, can be a powerful force when we get together.
When we work together we're unlimited - we can't be divided.
The National Black Feminist Organization’s Chicago Chapter welcomes
all black women. They have a monthly meeting that rotates around the
city, also, a monthly newsletter, consciousness raising groups and workshops.
NBFO will help you with childcare and transportation so you can attend.
(Editor's Note: The National Black Feminist Organization no longer
exists.)
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