Edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Haymarket Books
1/13/2026, paperback
SKU: 9798888903643
Winner of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction
"If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free." - Combahee River Collective Statement
The Combahee River Collective, a pathbreaking group of radical Black feminists, was one of the most important organizations to develop out of the antiracist and women's liberation movements of the 1960s and '70s. In this collection of essays and interviews edited by activist-scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, founding members and contemporary activists reflect on the organization's contributions to Black feminism and its impact on today's struggles.
This expanded second edition features a new introduction by Taylor and a powerful new interview with Angela Y. Davis.
Reviews:
"A striking collection that should be immediately added to the Black feminist canon." - Bitch Media
"An essential book for any feminist library." - Library Journal
"The publication of How We Get Free marks the 40th anniversary of the Combahee River Collective statement, which is often said to be the foundational document of intersectional feminism. As white feminism has gained an increasing amount of coverage, there are still questions as to how black and brown women's needs are being addressed. This book, through a collection of interviews with prominent black feminists, provides some answers." - Rachael Revesz, The Independent
About the Editor:
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes and speaks on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. A professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, she is also a contributing writer at The New Yorker, the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, and a coeditor of Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies. She is the author of From From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation and Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, a semifinalist for the National Book Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.