This Bridge Called My Back – Book Review

By Radical Women of Color – Cherríe Moraga (Author, Editor), Gloria Anzaldúa (Editor)

Originally released in 1981, This Bridge Called My Back is a testimony to women of colour feminism as it emerged in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as co-editor Cherríe Moraga writes,

“the complex confluence of identities—race, class, gender, and sexuality—systemic to women of colour oppression and liberation.”

Reissued here, nearly thirty-five years after its inception, Moraga’s fourth edition contains an extensive new introduction, along with a previously unpublished statement by Gloria Anzaldúa. The new edition also includes visual artists whose work was produced during the same period as Bridge, including Betye Saar, Ana Mendieta, and Yolanda López, as well as current contributor biographies. Bridge continues to reflect an evolving definition of feminism that can effectively adapt to and help inform an understanding of the changing economic and social conditions of women of colour in the United States and throughout the world.

“Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of colour movements and the broader movement. I have loved this book for thirty years, and am so pleased we have returned with our stories, words, and attributes to the growing and resilient movement.”

– Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth