CTN PEER MENTOR, PATRICIA ROMNEY, PUBLISHES BOOK

CTN Peer Mentor, Patricia Romney, recently published a book titled We Were There: The Third World Women’s Alliance and the Second Wave. The book spans the time period from 1970 to 1980, when “the Third World Women’s Alliance lived the dream of third world feminism. The small bicoastal organization was one of the earliest groups advocating for what came to be known as intersectional activism, arguing that women of color faced a “triple jeopardy” of race, gender, and class oppression. Rooted in the Black civil rights move­ment, the TWWA pushed the women’s movement to address issues such as sterilization abuse, infant mortality, welfare, and wage exploitation, and challenged third world activist organizations to address sexism in their ranks. Interweaving oral history, scholarly and archival research, and first-person memoir, We Were There documents how the TWWA shaped and defined second wave feminism. Highlight­ing the essential contributions of women of color to the justice move­ments of the 1970s, this historical resource will inspire activists today and tomorrow, reminding a new generation that solidarity is the only way forward.

“We Were There is part history, part personal reflection, and part biography, written with a passion and immediacy that belies the span of time between the events and the telling.  A powerful reminder of what life was like for women—especially women of color—not so long ago, and of how far there is to go to reach equality.” —Booklist”   (https://www.feministp)