Barbara Christian

The Highs and Lows of Black Feminist Criticism

I thought that if a reader did  not know the author of the literature they were reading that it would be beneficial on their part by not causing them to be bias from the beginning.  However, after reading Barbara Christian's, "The Highs and Lows of Black Feminist Criticism," it made me rethink this thought.  I think that her point being made was that black women are the best critics for literature.  It seemed as if she was saying her and her female family members had stories to tell that not a white woman or any man would ever have to tell in their lifetimes.  A black feminist approach would be different from any other writers' approaches based on their experiences as black women.  And for so long they could not speak out about these experiences in writing or any other forms of art.  I took from this reading that maybe knowing who the author is would actually give the reader an insight to the position the book will be coming from depending on who the author is, instead of just causing them to form bias opinions, it may benefit them to better understand the reading in its entirety.