For this 30th year anniversary edition, Patricia Hill Collins examines how the ideas in this classic text speak to contemporary social issues and identifies the directions needed for the future of Black feminist thought.

Patricia Hill Collins is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology Emerita at the University of Maryland, College Park and Charles Phelps Taft Professor Emerita of African American Studies at the University of Cincinnati. She is the author of ten books, including her award-winning books Black Feminist Thought (1990, 2000) and Black Sexual Politics (2004), as well as her co-authored volume Intersectionality (2016, 2020), and Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory (2019). Dr. Collins has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, Brazil, and internationally. Dr. Collins has served in many capacities in community and professional organizations, including as the 2009 President of the American Sociological Association (ASA), the first African-American woman elected to this position in the organization's 104-year history. Dr. Collins has won numerous professional awards, among them the William E.B. DuBois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from ASA (2017), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Black Sociologists (2018), the Alumni Award from Brandeis University (2021), and the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service for 2021 for sociology.

Preface to the First Edition, Preface to the Second Edition, Preface to the 30th Anniversary Edition, Acknowledgements Part I: The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought 1. The Politics of Black Feminist Thought 2. Distinguishing Features of Black Feminist Thought Part II: Core Themes in Black Feminist Thought 3. Work, Family, and Black Women's Oppression 4. Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images 5. The Power of Self-Definition 6. The Sexual Politics of Black Womanhood 7. Black Women's Love Relationships 8. Black Women and Motherhood 9. Rethinking Black Women's Activism Part III: Black Feminism, Knowledge, and Power 10. U.S. Black Feminism in a Transnational Context 11. Black Feminist Epistemology 12. Toward a Politics of Empowerment Epilogue: The Power of Ideas Glossary, References, Index