Firebrand Books, 1993

The Black Back-Ups: Poetry

In her first collection, constructed with interlocking passages of prose and poetry, Rushin focuses on being a black child and then a black woman in a world where power has been controlled predominantly by white men. The metaphor of the title poem, dedicated to “. . . all of the Black women who sang back-up for / Elvis Presley, John Denver, James Taylor, Lou Reed. / Etc. Etc. Etc.,” is developed in small autobiographical sketches, such as that of a grandmother who purchased silverware with a dollar and a coupon from Nabisco Shredded Wheat. There is a tender quality in much of the work, which can be attributed to the poet’s role as “bridge,” which she playfully complains about: “I explain my mother to my father my father to my little sister my little sister to my brother my brother to the White Feminists . . . ” At times she demonstrates an acute sensitivity to detail (“I am Invisible Woman / The itch in the middle of your back / . . . The meat / Between / Your teeth”), but in some of the overtly political poems Rushin loses her concentration and what follows (a portrait of construction workers, for instance) veers toward stereotype while the language becomes deflated. —Publishers Weekly

State University of New York Press; 4 edition (2015)

This Bridge Called My Back, Fourth Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color

“This Bridge Called My Back … dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Twenty years after its publication, we can now see how it helped to untether the production of knowledge from its disciplinary anchors—and not only in the field of women’s studies. This Bridge has allowed us to define the promise of research on race, gender, class and sexuality as profoundly linked to collaboration and coalition-building. And perhaps most important, it has offered us strategies for transformative political practice that are as valid today as they were two decades ago.” —Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz

“This Bridge Called My Back … has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. A much-cited text, its influence has been visible and broad both in academia and among activists. We owe much of the sound of our present voices to the brave scholars and feminists whose ideas and ideals crowd its pages.” —Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara