National Black Feminist Organization
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The National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) was founded in 1973. The group worked to address the unique issues affecting black women in America.
Members of the NBFO were culled from the Civil Rights/Black Power movement and the feminist/Women's Liberation movement. Many of the members did not feel completely accepted in either camp. They felt that the white women who dominated the feminist movement had internalized racist, white supremacist beliefs and that many were guilty of overt racial discrimination. The women active in the Civil Rights movement fared no better; their leadership was frequently ignored, downplayed, or challenged. They were also expected to subordinate themselves to the men in the movement and were frequently relegated to menial tasks. Lesbians had to deal with the homophobia prevalent in both movements.
Brenda Eichelberger, one of the founding members of the Chicago chapter said this in an undated interview, "...I didn't know any other black woman felt the way that I did about feminism. I knew white women who were my friends, but they didn't have the added oppression of race. A lot of black groups were macho. I couldn't completely identify with any group. Anyway, all I need to know was that one woman anywhere who felt like I did..."
Angered by the double (and sometimes triple and quadruple)layer of prejudice they were subjected to, a group of twenty black feminists decided to form their own group. They borrowed the office of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women. Then the women held an all-day conference, inviting African-American women from all over the country. The National Black Feminist Organization was born.
The NBFO focused its energies on the interconnectedness of many prejudices that faced African-American women--racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. The women elected Margaret Sloan-Hunter, one of the early editors of Ms. Magazine and an associate of Gloria Steinem, as their chair. They then established chapters in several U.S. cities including Chicago and New York.
The very narrowness of the group's focus proved to be its undoing. The group stopped operating on a national level in 1977 and is now defunct.
