Abstract

Daughters of Jefferson, Daughters of Bootblacks is a constructive proposal in feminist ethics from a theological perspective. With empathy, Barbara Andolsen reveals the moral vulnerability of the woman's movement from its early manifestations in suffrage campaigns to the contemporary feminist theologies of Mary Daly, Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, and Rosemary Ruether. Professor Andolsen suggests ways that the shape of the women's movement might be transformed if greater attention were offered to distinctive black feminist perspectives on such issues as rape, work, male/female solidarity, and beauty. She concludes that feminist theology must stress the integral interrelationship of sexism, racism, and economic exploitation. If the contemporary women's movement is to sustain its efforts to liberate all women from the bonds of oppression and exploitation that restrain them, says Professor Andolsen, it must develop a greater capacity for self-criticism and a deeper recognition of its own moral vulnerability. In particular, it must confront the racism that has been part of its history from the beginning and continues to be implicit in the tendency of contemporary feminist to speak and act as if the experience of white middle class women were the experience of all women. -- Publisher description.