Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde was a feminist writer known for her powerful poems and essays. She described herself as "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet."

In her writings she embraced anger and other strong emotions to advocate for change and address racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia, and fight back against white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity. Audre was a pioneer and embraced intersectionality (though not yet using that vocabulary) in all of her work.

She viewed our differences as strengths and tools for transforming oppressive systems.

"As women, we have been taught either to ignore our differences, or to view them as causes for separation and suspicion rather than as forces for change. Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression. But community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist."

The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House, 1984