A common refrain when discussing the need to diversify and make our professions more inclusive is that people don't know about the work of Black women scholars. Even worse is that this issue is far from new and has been discussed by Black women experts and revolutionaries in countless forums. The work of our Black colleagues has been ignored and written off with false claims of bias. We know that obviously there are countless Black women writing in the sciences and the work of Cite Black Women has done much to put a spotlight on these injustices. We need to break out of this cycle of systemic oppression by highlighting and amplifying their voices through proper citations. This is just a sampling of some of the incredible work that Black women have done in the sciences and health sciences. Take a look and explore the #CiteBlackWomen resources!
“I am always amazed by the complete absence of references to work by Black women in contemporary critical works claiming to address in an inclusive way issues of gender, race, feminism, postcolonialism, and so on. Confronting colleagues about such absences, I, along with other Black women critics, am often told that they were simply unaware that such material exists, that they were often working from their knowledge of available sources.”
hooks, bell. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge. Pg. 80
“When Black writers are not read or Black thinkers are not cited or Black activists are not interviewed, we can say that it is just too hard for those who do not live, work, or learn near Black people to find any. It is just so hard.”
McMillan Cottom, T. (2019). Thick and other essays. The New Press. Pg. 216
"Why weren't other women of Color found to participate in this conference?...In academic feminist circles, the answer to these questions is often, 'We did not know who to ask.' But that is the same evasion of responsibility, the same cop-out, that keeps Black women's art out of women's exhibitions, Black women's work out of most feminist publications...and Black women's texts off your reading lists."
Lorde, A., & Gay, R. (2020). The selected works of Audre Lorde (First edition.). W. W. Norton & Company. Pg. 42
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