Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

Born in 1980 in Louisiana, Dr. Brittney Cooper is a Rutgers University professor in Africana Women and Gender Studies. In addition to her scholarly work, including Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (2017), she has written works aimed at more general readers, such as this volume. An important presence on social media, including her blog posts on Crunk Feminist Collective and contributions to the Substack newsletter The Remix, Cooper’s regularly appears on panels, news shows, and the TED Talks stage.

Cooper’s work in these forums makes her a public intellectual, a person who brings analyses and critical frameworks typically associated with academia to general readers and to topics of note in popular culture. In Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, Cooper relies on the persona of Black cultural critic as homegirl—a Black female peer, usually a friend of long standing—to establish credibility as she discusses hot-button topics and calls out aspects of United States and Black culture that oppress Black women. Her cultural analysis of Black female icons, Black love, and politics makes intersectional feminist analysis accessible.

Cooper complements her shared culture with her audience of Black women readers with critical and texts associated with Black feminism.