Sherie M. Randolph

Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black, Feminist Radical was a mixed bag for me. I remember seeing Ms Kennedy at several conferences. I was very young, about 16-20 but never forgot her smarts, her energy, her humor and style. I devoured her words and wanted to be like her so I was surprised this book was tedious and frankly boring, at times, to read.

One one hand, I learned so much about Ms Kennedy and her radical vision for change and appreciated getting to understand more about her politics on a deeper level. Coming from a family that respected her intelligence, who was keenly aware of how oppression impacted , her father especially made it clear that his family should not "take shit" from anybody. Ms. Kennedy lived up to her father's dictum and in her own iconoclastic fashion went about organizing, educating, forming cross-cultural/race coalitions to turn oppressive institutions upside down and inside out. Ms Kennedy was one of the first leaders to name and understand what we now call "intersectionality and she was the beating heart of organizing so many actions, cross-race coalitions, organizations and critical events. She was there when it counted and I especially respected how she mentored young women and trusted that they were key players in ensuring that new ideas and new ways of organizing took hold.

However, this book is so poorly edited that I wanted to put it down half-way through it. There are literally passages, verbatim, that are used two or three times in different chapters. The repetitiveness of the concepts, the constant reminders about what she believed or how she organized was annoying and redundant. Given how engaging Ms Kennedy was and how she trusted people to be smart and sharp I wish that the author/editor could have done the same.

I want to give book 1 or 2 stars for the writing/editing but do not want readers to miss the opportunity to read about one of the foremothers of Black feminism so I am giving it three stars.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book for an honest opinion.… (plus d'informations)