Author bell hooks and legal scholar Lani Guinier were considered powerhouses in their respective fields, and the two Black women used their gifts to fight for social justice and racial equity. Though they are gone from this world, their legacies live on.
Local leaders joined Callie Crossley on Basic Black to break down what they have learned from hooks and Guinier, who recently passed away within a month of each other; Hooks in December 2021 and Guinier earlier this month.
The two late pioneers have made significant impacts on the Black community and beyond, pushing future generations to be tough, brave and courageous.
"[Guinier] moved across the intellectual terrain. So, she didn't just stick with voting rights, she tackled all of the deep and challenging issues of the day. She tackled affirmative action, education, merit," said Margaret Burnham, professor of law and Africana studies, and founder and director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University.
Guinier was an author, scholar and civil rights theorist — and the first Black woman given tenure at Harvard Law School. She traveled throughout the South advocating for voting rights for communities of color and challenged the inequity in how women were being taught in law school. Despite national controversy in 1993, when then-President Bill Clinton withdrew his nomination for Guinier as assistant attorney general, she remained steadfast in her pursuit for social justice and political reform. She died on Jan. 7, 2022, at the age of 71.
Marita Rivero, principal of Rivero Partners, former director of the Museum of African American History, former vice president and general manager for radio and television at GBH described both hooks and Guinier as humanists.
"I like the example they said that people who are humanists, nonetheless, are rooted in their Black community," Rivero said. "These are examples of people were forceful, very forceful when representing their own races, but in doing that, embracing the larger goal of equity and justice."
Gloria Jean Watkins was better known by her pen name: bell hooks. She was a prolific author, professor, feminist and activist. In her writings, hooks critiqued ideas of Black feminism and Black masculinity, and she challenged systems of patriarchy and white supremacy in American culture. Critics found her ideals to be controversial, and yet she was celebrated by a generation of Black female writers and scholars for expressing her unique voice and views of love and community. On Dec. 15, 2021, hooks died at the age of 70.
Darren Duarte, director of communications and outreach with the Brockton Police Department and a former host of Basic Black, once had the opportunity to interview bell hooks.
"She thought we lived in a society of lovelessness and if we could put love first and foremost in our life — not just the romantic kind of love, but the love where we had compassion and caring for each other, as Black people and basically all mankind — would be a much better place for," Duarte said.
Hooks and Guinier inspired a new generation of Black activists, scholars and writers who will in turn inspire others, according to Kim McLarin, professor and interim dean of graduate and professional studies at Emerson College.
"All these amazing Black feminist writers who are diagnosing the ills of our society, and, you know, prescribing the solution, is what both Lani Guinier and bell hooks did," McLarin said.
Watch local leaders discuss Lani Guinier and Bell Hooks on Basic Black:
