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Assignment 9

Patricia Hill Collins discusses in her essay “Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought” discusses the love that families had for each other from mixed backgrounds. Collins uses the example of black women riding buses to their white families and another example of white families discussing their love for their black mothers.

Although these families had different racial backgrounds, they still felt a sense of being an outsider. They felt as if they did not belong to their spouses as well.

Collins explains that although black families might feel like outsiders, that there is beauty in the fact that one can triumph against these kinds of racial differences, become a feminist, advocate, and a distinguished scholar.

Moreover, Collins explains that feminism varies from person to person and opinions of black feminists should not be weighted against each other. There is no single way of distinguishing which opinion is right or wrong. They do not create their own standards similar to what present day media portrays. Since there are different methods of oppression, there are different thoughts between each feminist.

One time where I felt like an outsider was when I was ordering a smoothie at Cold Stone Creamery. Everyone else on the line (approximately 25-50 people) were ordering ice cream. Although this is a simple example of what it feels like to be an outsider, it felt as if I wasn’t supposed to order a smoothie from there even though they do offer them. This situation is unique from other experiences of when a person would experience themselves feeling as if they were an outsider, which is what Collins hopes the reader will understand.

Society can make a person feel as if they are a minority in a majority if oppression is not resolved. The motif in this essay is that even in the tightest of situations a person can still feel different.