Misbehaving at the crossroads : essays & writings / Honorée Fanonne Jeffers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne, 1967- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American women--History.

African American women.

African American women--Social conditions.

African American women--Race identity.

Intersectionality (Sociology)--United States.

Intersectionality (Sociology).

Group identity--United States.

Group identity.

Genre:

Essays.

Physical Description:

xi, 352 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Essays & writings

Essays and writings

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2025]

Summary:

"Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is at a crossroads. Traditional African/Black American cultures present the crossroads as a place of simultaneous difficulty and possibility. In contemporary times, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the phrase "intersectionality" to explain the unique position of Black women in America. In many ways, they are at a third crossroads: attempting to fit into notions of femininity and respectability primarily assigned to White women, while inventing improvisational strategies to combat oppression. In Misbehaving at the Crossroads, Jeffers explores the emotional and historical tensions in Black women's public lives and her own private life. She charts voyages of Black girlhood to womanhood and the currents buffeting these journeys, including the difficulties of racially gendered oppression, the challenges of documenting Black women's ancestry; the adultification of Black girls; the irony of Black female respectability politics; the origins of Womanism/Black feminism; and resistance to White supremacy and patriarchy. As Jeffers shows with empathy and wisdom, naming difficult historical truths represents both Blues and transcendence, a crossroads that speaks." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

I: In search of our mothers' crossroads. That day in January

Our fathers who rewrote our mothers

Blues for the African woman whose name has been erased

Paper trail

A brief note concerning womanist identity

In search of our mothers' crossroads

Altar call

II: A daughter's theory. Three sisters: A fairy tale

Things ain't always gone be this way

Blues for Roe

In search of our mothers' justifications

Going to meet Mr. Baldwin

Ode to SWATS (all day)

Trellie Lee's baby

III: Red dirt: Interlude. From the old slave shack: Memoirs of a teacher by Trellie James Jeffers

IV: Of power and other innovations. Offspring follows belly

History is a trigger warning

Imaginary letter to the now-dead white male poet who might have given me the blues

A brief note concerning my late brother-friend's uage of the n-word as a verb

A Black body is somebody

Blues for Moynihan

Leaning on the everlasting arms of respectability

A brief note about the election of US Presidents, annoying progressive white folks, and the long-suffering understanding of black women

Very real (open) letter to Mr. Barack Obama concerning his speech accusing black men of sexism because some hadn't planned to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election

V: Blues for boys, blues for men. The little boy who will be my father

My life with Roots

Blues for boys, blues for men

Lexicon

Blues for paradise

Post-divorce, Post-African

VI: Misbehaving women. A brief note concerning another late brother-friend who led me to this discussion of the black woman as soul sister shapeshifter in these United States

In search of our mothers' handles

Imaginary letter to the white lady professor who might have extended an invitation to read poetry at her prestigious university

Blues for the sanctuary

Toni Morrison did that

In search of our mothers' tar baby

Imaginary letter to the white lady colleague who might have sat next to me at one of the now eliminated university workshops for diversity, equity, and inclusion training

On being Fannie Lou Hamer tired

Driving interstate West through Georgia

VII: In search of our mothers' forgiveness. August 2023

September 2023

October 2023

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-352).

Other Format:

Online version Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne, 1967- Misbehaving at the crossroads

ISBN:

9780063246638

0063246635

OCLC:

1512647273