Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

So what if it’s true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.

Far too often, Black women’s anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women’s eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It’s what makes Beyoncé’s girl power anthems resonate so hard. It’s what makes Michelle Obama an icon.

Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.

"[A] proud, energetic reclamation of anger, via memoir and pop cultural analysis...forceful and smart and joyous all at once...It was an inspiration to me." Rebecca Traister, The Cut

"Razor sharp and hilarious. There is so much about her analysis that I relate to and grapple with on a daily basis as a Latina feminist." America Ferrera

"A dissertation on black women’s pain and possibility; an autobiography of a black woman’s complicated dance with feminism, overcoming otherness as a big black girl in a skinny-white-girl world, her mother’s triumph over violence, and her own journey from disappointment to black joy." Joy Reid, Cosmopolitan

Brittney Cooper is a professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University, she cofounded the Crunk Collective, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Ebony, and The Root, among many others. In 2017, she was named to The Root 100 List, and in 2018, to the Essence Woke 100 List.