What is Black Women's Studies?

Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an inter-sectional, multicultural women's perspective. It critiques and explores societal norms of gender, race, class, sexuality, and other social inequalities.

African American Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of Black Americans. Taken broadly, the field studies not only the cultures of people of African descent in the United States, but the cultures of the entire African diaspora. The field includes scholars of African American literature, history, politics, religion and religious studies, sociology, and many other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences.

The field of Black Women's Studies has developed because of the failure of Black Studies or Women's Studies to address the unique experiences of African-American women adequately.