Dreams of Freedom: Black Feminism and Black Liberation

Running head: DREAMS OF FREEDOM 1
Dreams of Freedom
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DREAMS OF FREEDOM 2
Dreams of Freedom
Robin Kelly in his book dreams of freedom takes us through the problems of slavery in an
imaginary manner that is full of visions. According to Kelly, the only way humans can make
the world better is through imagination. Kelly wants us to use the visions he creates in this
book as the binoculars of imaging what a free society will look like at the same time, learning
from the male and female activist who lived in the 20th century and sacrificed their lives to
try and stop their oppressor from oppressing them and other people in the society. Through
his book, many accomplished black activists like Dr. Martin Luther King who lived and
influenced people in the past generation are widely mentioned and their efforts to create a
free world are also cited. The role of women in transforming society also especially where
men have failed is also evident in this book. All this information is explained in the form of
dreams and visions. That is why this paper seeks to show how Kelly used the dream of black
feminism and Black liberation to reconstruct the radical experiences that the blacks go
through.
The Dream of Black Feminism
There are various instances that Kelly in his book has described the journey and the
hardships that the black woman has been subjected to. In Robin Kelley’s book the “freedom
of dreams” the main theme is black women oppression and a powerful quote “Here lay the
crux of the problem” has been used by Kelly to describe this them. all throughout the book
freedom of dreams, black women are relatively invincible and this is not a matter of
exclusion, but rather it demonstrates how the black people especially the black women
experiences and interest are scarcely considered in the society they live in. From the book
freedom of dreams, it’s evident that the whites perceived black men and women as equal and
similar in everything that is, in the problems they are facing and common interest. But Kelly

DREAMS OF FREEDOM 3
uses his tactics to disapprove this argument and show that the black men and women are
more different. According to Kelly, the non-blacks perceived the situation to be gender when
in real sense it was far from it. This is why Kelly uses famous figures to prove his argument.
For example, Sojourner Truth who puts her voice on this matter by stating that “white
feminists and male abolitionists to acknowledge the oppression and potential of black
women” (137). She continues by saying the aim of Black liberation specifically to distinguish
men from women after which the same rights will then be awarded to both genders and not
just overcoming racism.
Further to this, according to the Moynihan report as Kelly mentions in his book, in future,
the blacks will be so far away not only political matter but also on economic matters and as a
result, the blacks will fight back for their freedom in involvement on these matters. The
Moynihan report in agreement with the Black Nationalist had further suggested that the
responsibility of a black woman lies in being a housewife where they will be contributing to
the society by creating and taking care of the babies. This was not received well by black
women because they felt that they are being taken for granted, and as a result, they wanted to
show how superior beings they were. That is why the Black women joined together and start
a movement. The feminist movement that created by these women inspired Kelly al
throughout his book “one of the most comprehensive versions of freedom I can think of, one
that recognizes the deep interconnectedness of struggles around race, gender, sexuality,
culture, class, and spirituality” (154). From the illustration of Kelly, it’s evident that the
feminist movement was so powerful. According to Kelly, many people thought that the main
problems that people were facing then based on racism. But the creation of the feminist
movement has proved that gender issue was also the main problem.
The Dream of Black Liberation