Eloquent Rage
A review of

Eloquent Rage

A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

Brittney Cooper • Picador • 2019

Say Her Name!

by David Meyer

Rutgers professor Brittney Cooper explains why you should empathize with the rage that shaped her life as a Black feminist battling racism and sexism. Cooper provides a necessary lesson to white readers as to why – among other things – it’s disrespectful to call her or any other Black woman “sassy.”

Say her name! That demand is more than a popular hashtag for Rutgers professor Brittney Cooper. With the scholarship of an academic and the bravado of a public activist, she details the racism and sexism Black women faced during and after slavery and in modern times.

Cooper, a Rutgers University professor in Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies, writes a well-regarded column for Cosmopolitan covering gender, politics and race. She co-founded the Crunk Feminist Collective and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications.

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