Collective Statement (1977) in AP African American Studies

The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977) is a Black feminist manifesto arguing that Black women's liberation would free everyone, because it requires destroying every interlocking system of oppression, including racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia (Topic 4.13, AP African American Studies).

What is the Collective Statement (1977)?

The Collective Statement (1977) is the founding manifesto of the Combahee River Collective, a group of Black feminists who took their name from Harriet Tubman's 1863 Combahee River raid, which freed over 700 enslaved people. That name choice was the whole argument in miniature. The group saw itself continuing a long line of Black women's freedom work that stretches back through Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Jarena Lee.

The statement's core claim is that oppressions are interlocking. You can't fight racism on Monday and sexism on Tuesday, because Black women experience them simultaneously. So the statement argued that if Black women were free, everyone would be free, since getting there would mean dismantling racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia all at once. It also delivered a dual critique that the exam loves to test. Mainstream white feminism ignored racism, and Black liberation movements sidelined women's concerns. The statement said Black women needed a politics built from their own position, not a seat in someone else's movement.

Why the Collective Statement (1977) matters in AP® African American Studies

This term lives in Topic 4.13 (The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism, and Intersectionality) in Unit 4: Movements and Debates. It directly supports learning objective 4.13.A, which asks you to explain how the twentieth-century Black feminist movement drew inspiration from earlier Black women's activism. The statement is the clearest piece of evidence for that LO, because the Collective literally named itself after Tubman's raid (EK 4.13.A.2) and cited the legacy of activists like Truth and Lee (EK 4.13.A.1). It's also the bridge document of Unit 4: it looks backward to nineteenth-century resistance and forward to Kimberlé Crenshaw's concept of intersectionality. If the exam asks you to trace continuity in Black women's activism across centuries, this is the document that ties the thread together.

How the Collective Statement (1977) connects across the course

Combahee River Collective (Unit 4)

The Collective is the group; the Statement is the document. Know both names, because a question can come at you from either direction. The Collective's name itself, taken from Tubman's raid, is testable evidence of inspiration from earlier activism.

Kimberlé Crenshaw and intersectionality (Unit 4)

The 1977 statement described interlocking oppressions over a decade before Crenshaw coined the word 'intersectionality' in 1989. Think of the statement as the idea and Crenshaw's term as the label that made it portable across scholarship and law.

Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Jarena Lee (Units 2 and 4)

These eighteenth- and nineteenth-century activists are the 'earlier Black women's activism' that LO 4.13.A points to. The statement deliberately claimed their legacy, which makes it perfect evidence for a continuity argument spanning enslavement to the 1970s.

Alice Walker and womanism (Unit 4)

Walker's womanism is a parallel 1970s-80s response to the same problem: mainstream feminism didn't speak to Black women's experiences. The statement is the political-manifesto version; womanism is the cultural and literary version.

Is the Collective Statement (1977) on the AP® African American Studies exam?

Expect this term in multiple-choice sets. Questions tend to test two moves. First, the continuity move: explaining how the statement 'built upon earlier Black women's activism,' usually through the Tubman raid name and the legacy of Truth and Lee. Second, the dual-critique move: recognizing that the statement criticized both white feminist movements (for ignoring racism) and Black liberation movements (for marginalizing women), and explaining why that reflects Black women's unique position facing racism and sexism simultaneously. Quantitative-style questions also pair the statement with data showing growth in organizations addressing racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia together after 1977, asking you to read the statement as a turning point. No released FRQ has used this term verbatim, but it's strong source material for short-answer questions on Black feminist thought, and the project component if you choose this theme.

The Collective Statement (1977) vs Intersectionality (Kimberlé Crenshaw)

Easy mix-up because they describe the same reality. The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977) came first and described 'interlocking' systems of oppression in activist, manifesto form. Crenshaw coined the actual term 'intersectionality' in 1989 as a legal scholar. On the exam, get the order right: the statement is the precursor, Crenshaw's term came twelve years later. If a question asks who named the concept, that's Crenshaw, not the Collective.

Key things to remember about the Collective Statement (1977)

• The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977) argued that Black women's liberation would free all people, because achieving it requires destroying racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia together.

• The Collective named itself after Harriet Tubman's Combahee River raid, which freed over 700 enslaved people, directly linking 1970s Black feminism to nineteenth-century activism (LO 4.13.A).

• The statement critiqued both mainstream white feminism for ignoring racism and Black liberation movements for marginalizing women, reflecting Black women's unique position facing multiple oppressions at once.

• It treated oppressions as interlocking rather than separate, anticipating the concept Kimberlé Crenshaw would name 'intersectionality' in 1989.

• On the exam, use the statement as evidence of continuity in Black women's activism from Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman through the Black feminist movement of the 1970s.

Frequently asked questions about the Collective Statement (1977)

What is the Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)?

It's a manifesto by the Combahee River Collective, a group of Black feminists, arguing that Black women's liberation requires destroying all interlocking systems of oppression, including racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. It's a core document in Topic 4.13 of AP African American Studies.

Did the Combahee River Collective Statement invent intersectionality?

Not the word, but yes to the idea. The 1977 statement described interlocking oppressions, and Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term 'intersectionality' twelve years later in 1989. The exam expects you to know the statement came first.

Why was it called the Combahee River Collective?

The group named itself after Harriet Tubman's 1863 raid on the Combahee River, which freed over 700 enslaved people. The name deliberately tied 1970s Black feminism to earlier Black women's resistance, which is exactly what LO 4.13.A asks you to explain.

How is the Combahee River Collective Statement different from womanism?

The statement is a political manifesto about dismantling interlocking systems of oppression, while womanism is Alice Walker's broader cultural term for a perspective rooted in Black women's experiences. Both responded to the failures of mainstream feminism, but the statement is explicitly organizational and political.

What did the statement criticize about other movements?

It made a dual critique. Mainstream white feminist movements ignored racism, and Black liberation movements marginalized women's concerns. That double exclusion is why the Collective argued Black women needed their own politics, and it's one of the most commonly tested points about the statement.