Combahee River Collective members at its first autonomous retreat in 1976, held at the Wellfleet Motel in Wellfleet, MA. Top, left to right: Margo Okazawa-Rey, Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Chirlane McCray, and Mercedes Tompkins. Bottom, left to right: Demita Frazier and Helen Stewart. Image courtesy Margo Okazawa-Rey.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Combahee River Collective, Process calls for proposals and submissions on a wide variety of themes surrounding feminism, socialism, race, and sexuality. The Combahee River Collective was a Black lesbian feminist socialist organization formed in 1974. Its founding and activities played an essential role in the development of theories of intersectionality and critical race theory.
We are open to a wide range of topics and approaches, directly or indirectly related to the Combahee River Collective. This could include pieces about Black lesbian feminism, second-wave feminism more broadly, gender and sexuality, or socialist movements, organizations, and politics in the 1970s beyond the Collective. We are also interested in articles that explore the development and application of theories of intersectionality and identity politics or histories of critical race theory. Submissions might examine the afterlives of the Combahee River Collective and its pedagogical, theoretical, and material implications and applications. We encourage pieces that adopt global, transnational, or comparative perspectives and that connect the history of Black radical feminism with contemporary issues in the United States.
We accept submissions from anyone engaged in the practice of U.S. history, including researchers, teachers, graduate students, archivists, curators, public historians, digital scholars, and others. Submissions should be written for a public readership and should not exceed 1500 words, not counting any footnotes. We will aim to publish pieces throughout spring 2024, but are open to submissions past that point. Proposals and drafts may be sent to blog@oah.org.
