The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)

The statement was collectively authored in April 1977 by members of the Combahee River Collective, a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization based in Boston. Key figures in drafting the document included prominent activists and scholars like Barbara Smith and Demita Frazier.

The document is widely considered a foundational text because it explicitly introduced the concept of identity politics and intersectional analysis. It argued that the interlocking systems of oppression—specifically racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia—must be fought simultaneously.

The organization named itself after the Combahee River in South Carolina, the site of a historic military operation. In 1863, Harriet Tubman led a Union raid along the river that successfully freed more than 700 enslaved people, representing a powerful act of liberation.

The statement explicitly critiqued mainstream, white feminism for its persistent racism and its failure to address the specific struggles of Black women. It also rejected the separatism advocated by some radical lesbian feminist movements, insisting that true liberation required dismantling all forms of economic and racial oppression.