In her foreword to the second edition of the anthology This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Woman of Color, the book's co-editor Cherrie Moraga noted that, two years after she and Gloria E. Anzaldua first published the collection of poetry, essays, interviews and illustrations which were the marrow of some of the most influential women of color and feminists of the modern world, "I have heard from people that the book has helped change some minds ( and hopefully some hearts as well ).
"At the time of this writing, however, I am feeling more discouraged than optimistic. Still, the need for a broad-based women of color movement capable of spanning borders of nation and ethnicity has never been so strong."
On Oct. 5, the hall of DePaul University's Cortelyou Commons was filled to capacity with people crossing the borders of an equally vast spectrum of age, gender, identity, race and orientation. Many of them carried personal copies of the fourth edition of This Bridge Called My Back, published this year, for Moraga to sign.
The Women's Center at DePaul had invited the award-winning playwright, poet and essayist to reflect upon Bridge, its creation and effectone illustrated by DePaul Latin American and Latino Studies department chair Dr. Lourdes Torres, who stated "activists, scholars and students all over the country have been gathering this year to commemorate the 35th anniversary of This Bridge Called My Back.
"[It is] consistently attracting new readers at the same time that it continues to inspire people like me. There is no argument that This Bridge Called My Back significantly redefined our knowledge of the feminist movement and transformed our understanding of women of color, scholarship and activism."
As part of the Midwest celebration of This Bridge Called My Back at DePaul, four of its students who are women of color read selections from the book's contributors, who include Puerto Rican poet Rosario Morales, Japanese activist/essayist Mitsuye Yamada and Anzaldua. They each had such a profound impact that, after the readings, some of the students were inspired to add their own work as Moraga looked on at the future they represent.
"It has been an incredible phenomenon for me personally to watch some of the outpouring, interest and attention in a book that is 35 years old," Moraga said.
She added that the decision to publish a fourth edition and so reunite with many of the books surviving contributors ultimately proved as moving as it was difficult, particularly after Anzaldúa passed away in 2004a moment which "almost stopped me in my tracks."
"When you're talking about women of color's affliction and liberation, what you're talking about is the cost that racism, sexism, homophobia and classism have on [their] bodies," Moraga said. "So there are many dead already in this book. Most of them are dead from cancer and diabetes. We continue to suffer disproportionately."
For those students who wished to follow along the paths of Bridge contributors like celebrated activist and feminist Audre Lorde while in turn blazing their own, Moraga had some advice. "Language matters and if I can say anything as a writer, I would say 'use the dirtiest, roughest language you've got. The stuff that gets them the most upset.' Because that is sometimes what you can trust will not be stolen, appropriated, turned into slogan. Dig up the dirt and say truths that have not been said. The only way people understand is to tell the story attached to the flesh."
"The book is important because it allowed for an original voice," Moraga added. "It is the intimate that brings down institutions."
For more information about The Women's Center at DePaul University, visit http://las.depaul.edu/centers-and-institutes/womens-center/Pages/default.aspx.
The fourth edition of This Bridge Called My Back is at www.amazon.com/This-Bridge-Called-Fourth-Edition/dp/1438454384 .