Audre Lorde: "Black, Lesbian, Mother, Warrior, Poet"

Audre Lorde shook the world with her powerful poetry that shed a light on the racism, sexism, and homophobia happening in the 60s, 70s and 80s (and continues today). Her openness with her sexuality and her loud voice for African Americans made a tremendous impact on second-wave feminism and showed Lorde to be decades ahead of her generation.

Audre Lorde's Life

Audre Lorde in Berlin (3)

Audre Lorde was born in New York City on February 18th, 1934. From a very young age, as is noted in her biography on the Poetry Foundation website, Lorde had a passion for writing. She was first published after she graduated high-school in Seventeen Magazine (2). After her college years, Lorde became involved with many organizations that fought (and are still fighting) for gender equality. One such organization was the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press. This nonprofit describes their mission on their website as, "increas[ing] communication among women and reach[ing] the public with our experience, perspectives, and opinions" (2). Not only was Lorde involved with organizations like the one mentioned above, but she also spent time traveling and bringing attention to gender injustices in other countries. The time she spent in Berlin is one of the most famous of these. While in Germany, (Lorde was there from 1984 to 1992) she started the "Afro-German" movement which worked towards inspiring black German women to share their stories and make their voices heard. Lorde was also apart of the founding of two German women's groups the ADEFRA and ISD. Today these organizations play a significant role in the refugee crisis that Germany is facing (9). The New York Times recently released an article on Lorde's Berlin years which goes into more detail about her political movements, impact on the lesbian bar scene, and public readings in East Berlin after the Berlin wall came down.

Lorde on why she writes (8)

Her Impact Then and Now

Another important aspect about Lorde was her openness with her sexuality and her bold statements about the racism in feminism at the time. Her poem "Movement Song" is a poem about lesbian lovers. "Power" reveals the injustice and brutality against African Americans. "Who Said It Was Simple" uncovers the racist side of second-wave feminism. Because of her outspokenness, she was instantly subject to ridicule from other poets (specifically white, heterosexuals). She was desperate to make changes to feminism that would not be fully recognized until the 1990s in the wake of third-wave feminism. This is one of the reasons Lorde is so inspirational to me. As shown above, she most commonly called herself a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet." Jackie Kay, in her article on Lorde, says, "She wanted to show that she was complex, that she contained multitudes, that she would not prioritise one aspect of her identity over another" (4). Today, we are just starting to become aware of the multiple titles people can have when it comes to gender, sexuality, etc. Lorde was able to say, I'm not just black, just a lesbian, just a mother. She can embody all of these titles and neither one is more important than the other. 

Even though Audre Lorde's work is dated in the time of second-wave feminism, many of her pieces are still relevant today. Lorde was not afraid to speak up about issues that were being ignored. Her criticism of the racism in feminism at the time, her ability to work towards making a change through her poems and actions, as well as her candidness with her homosexuality makes her a woman warrior worthy of recognition not only during her time but for generations after.

Audre Lorde with her partner Gloria Joseph at the airport in 1984 (1).

Works Cited

(1) "Audre Lorde and Gloria I. Joseph at Tegal Airpot, 1984." http://audrelordeberlin.com/de/?marker=66

(2) “Audre Lorde.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/audre-lorde#tab-poems.

(3) "Exibition: Audre Lorde--The Berlin Years." https://www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/en/library/exhibitions/audre_lorde_exhibition/index.html

(4) Kay, Jackie. “The Black Unicorn: Feminist, Lesbian, Warrior, Poet--the American Activist Audre Lorde Showed a Generation How to Fuse the Personal and Political.” New Statesman, no. 5386, 2017, p. 58. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.510653563&site=eds-live&scope=site.

(5) Lorde, Audre. "Movement Song." Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42581/movement-song. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019.

(6) Lorde, Audre. "Power." Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53918/power-56d233adafeb3. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019. 

(7) Lorde, Audre. "Who Said It Was Simple." Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42587/who-said-it-was-simple. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019.

(8) "Readers+Writers Journal." https://www.pinterest.com/pin/852024823223473584/?nic=1

(9) Wilder, Charly. “Audre Lorde's Berlin.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 July 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/travel/berlin-audre-lorde.html.