Centering the Most Marginalized: Black Women Movement Actors and Misogynoir in the Movement for Black Lives

Abstract

This research evaluates the extent to which 30 Black women movement actors (e.g., leaders, organizers, and protestors) narrate their intersectional experiences in the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) in the District of Columbia and Maryland. Specifically, through the narratives and experiences of Black women movement actors (BWMAs) within contemporary social movements, this work uses sociological intersectionality as a theoretical conceptualization and analytical method to link misogynoir to movement literature. Misogynoir was a recurring, embedded concept that had a sustaining effect on movement goals. Also, the amount of time in movement acted as an important identifier of a structural analysis for BWMAs intersectional interpretations. Joya Misra, Celeste Vaughan Curinton, and Venus Mary Green proffer six tenets of sociological analysis that help to illuminate the tools BWMAs use to challenge local organizations to decenter male-centric goals and center women, queer, and differently abled needs for liberation, toward a more comprehensive movement. Implications for future research are discussed.