Revisited: Akasha Hull
Poet, writer, literary activist, lecturer, friend
Sometimes it is good to go back to previous posts. This one means so much to me.
In my first quarter of college at the University of California at Santa Cruz I signed up for Bettina Aptheker’s Intro to Feminisms class. The class changed everything for me, giving me language to name my experiences but we can get back to that another time. Akasha (Gloria) Hull, who was also a teacher in what was then called Women’s Studies (now Feminist Studies), was invited to class one day to read some of her poetry. As I remember it, the refrain of the poem was “It’s not your fault. Its not your fault. Say it again and again until you know its true.” (When I come across the copy of the poem handed out in class I will post it - because archives :D)
I was so moved and impacted by the poem, I remember thinking I need to take a class with her at my first opportunity which turned out to be the next quarter for “Women of Color in the US” and then “African American Women’s Literature” and finally “Spirituality in African American Women’s Literature” She also became my official advisor, unofficial mentor and someone I care for deeply. I am grateful for the impact she has had on my life.
One of the many things I learned from Akasha was to use my voice. She told our whole class that if we don’t each speak up and share our thoughts, we are depriving each other of learning something. It is our responsibility to share our knowledge. That had not occurred to me in my 18 years and was not something I had ever practiced. But with her comments in mind, I tried with varying levels of success.
Flash forward to 2020 and an online video from the 2015 Othering and Belonging Conference and a conversation between bell hooks and John Powell. bell hooks talked about her papers and her legacy. I am paraphrasing here, but I believe her point was that if she didn’t do the work to have her papers, objects and photos collected and secured in an archives, who would? So she worked to create the bell hooks center with her papers in the Berea College Special Collections and Archives.
I started to think about Akasha’s papers and wondering if she had a plan to preserve her legacy and provide a foundation for future studies. She did and now its done. The Akasha Hull Papers are now available at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. From her work on women writers of the Harlem Renaissance to Black women’s studies to the Combahee River Collective. I hate to think how much would have been lost if she hadn’t done the time consuming work of finding an appropriate archives, gathering and organizing the materials and providing intellectual support to the archivists doing the processing. I have learned so much from Akasha and now anyone else can too.
You know I love to recommend books so you can do your own reading and research, so check out the list below:
But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies Coeditors Akasha (Gloria T.) Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith with a new forward by Brittney C. Cooper.
Published in 1982, But Some of Us Are Brave was the first-ever Black women's studies reader and a foundational text of contemporary feminism.
Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women by Akasha Hull
A celebration of the journey of African-American women toward a new spirituality grounded in social awareness, black American tradition, metaphysics, and heightened creativity.
Neicy by Akasha Hull
Thoughtful, infused with spirituality, and inventive about how unconscious material seeps into everyday life, NEICY compels us to examine difficult sexual issues -- promiscuity, repression, abuse, powerlessness, and fear -- and points the way to enlightened sexual celebration.
My Soul Is a Witness: African-American Women's Spirituality edited by Gloria Wade-Gayles
The whole book is wonderful and Akasha has a powerful piece called “Dreadpath/Lockspirit”
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org where your purchases support local bookstores. I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Thank you for this post highlighting Akasha Hull and raising awareness of her contribution and Black Women's studies. I'm curious especially about the inspiration that infuses spirituality and social justice. I can feel how your friendship is so impactful. Just ordered Soul Talk to explore further - thank you!