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Sisterhood Is Powerful

anthology of feminist essays · 1970

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Robin MorganAuthorRobin Morgan1941–2026

Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement is an anthology of feminist writings published in 1970 and edited by Robin Morgan, a feminist poet and founding member of New York Radical Women. It was one of the first widely available anthologies of second-wave feminism, and it works both as an analysis meant to raise consciousness and as a call to action.

The phrase that gives the book its title was coined in 1968 by Kathie Sarachild, in a flier written for the keynote speech at New York Radical Women's first public action, at the convocation of the Jeannette Rankin Brigade. The anthology gathers classic essays and writings by activists such as Naomi Weisstein, Kate Millett, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Florynce Kennedy, Marge Piercy and Mary Daly, alongside historical documents including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, excerpts from the SCUM Manifesto and the Redstockings Manifesto. It also includes a piece from the Black Women's Liberation Group of Mount Vernon, reflecting the race-conscious sisterhood demanded by some Black second-wave feminists, and a section Morgan called "verbal karate", offering useful quotations and statistics about women.

The book was followed by Sisterhood Is Global (1984) and Sisterhood Is Forever (2003). The New York Public Library listed it among its books of the twentieth century, although Chile, China and South Africa banned it. The Oxford English Dictionary also credits Morgan with the first printed use of the term "herstory" in this book.

Themes

Second-wave feminismConsciousness and collective actionRadical history and documentsSisterhood across raceFeminist language and statistics

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