Born Gloria Jean Watkins in 1952, Bell Hooks died in her Kentucky home “surrounded by family and friends,” according to her niece, Ebony Motley. She then published some forty books, from poetry to children’s literature, exploring not only feminism, racism, but also love.
African-American feminist author Bell Hooks died at age 69 on Wednesday, her family announced. Born Gloria Jean Watkins in 1952, bell hooks – her pen name (in lowercase) after her great-grandmother Bell Blair Hooks – died in her Kentucky home “surrounded by family and friends,” said tweeted his niece, Ebony Motley. Berea College in Kentucky, where she had taught since 2004, said she suffered from “a long illness.” She published her first collection of poems “And There Wept” in 1978. She was hailed in 1981 for “Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism”, in which she examined the impact of sexism and racism on black women, as well as racism within feminism, arguing for a more inclusive movement.
About forty books
She then published some forty books, from poetry to children’s literature, exploring not only feminism, racism, but also love. “We can love in a profound way that transforms the political world in which we live,” she said in 2000.
Honored with many accolades throughout her career, hooks received a doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1983, after graduating from Stanford, and entered the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame in 2018. Her work is studied in many American universities.