Barbara Smith

Barbara Smith is a Black lesbian feminist pioneer, scholar, activist, author, lecturer, and publisher who co-founded the Combahee River Collective in 1974 and co-authored its influential statement in 1977. She co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in 1980 with Audre Lorde, the first U.S. publisher dedicated to women of color, and edited landmark anthologies like Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology (1983). Her work has been pivotal in defining Black women's literary tradition and advancing Black feminism and women's studies.[1][2][4][6]