HOOKS, BELL

born Sept. 25, 1952, Hopkinsville, Ky., U.S. pseudonym of Gloria Jean Watkins American scholar whose work examined the varied perceptions of black women and the development of feminist identities. Gloria Jean Watkins grew up in a segregated community of the American South. At age 19 she began writing what would become her first full-length book, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, which was published in 1981. She studied English literature at Stanford University (B.A., 1973), the University of Wisconsin (M.A., 1976), and the University of California, Santa Cruz (Ph.D., 1983). Hooks assumed her pseudonym, the name of her great-grandmother, to honour female legacies; she preferred to spell it in all lowercase letters as a statement against the ego of the author. She taught English and ethnic studies at the University of Southern California from the mid-1970s, African and Afro-American studies at Yale University during the '80s, women's studies at Oberlin College until 1994, and English at the City College of New York from 1994. In the 1980s hooks established a support group for black women called the Sisters of the Yam, which she later used as the title of a book, published in 1993, celebrating black sisterhood. Her other writings included Feminist Theory From Margin to Center (1984), Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (1989), Black Looks: Race and Representation (1992), and Killing Rage: Ending Racism (1995). Her memoirs were published as Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood (1996).