Abstract
Though findings are mixed, collective action engagement has been shown to be positively associated with greater academic success, social support, political efficacy, and well-being with racially marginalized individuals. Despite these findings, however, investigations of collective action engagement with Black American adult women within psychological science are scarce. Consistent with Black feminist thought, the construct of resistance may provide a necessary expansion to include all the ways that Black women actively work to transform their communities toward justice, beyond collective action. To ascertain the breadth and scope of psychological research related to Black women’s resistance (i.e., collective action engagement) to interpersonal discrimination and structural oppression, in this systematic review and content analysis we sought to identify participants’ and scholars’ definitions of resistance, as well as thematic dimensions and specific strategies of resistance. Additionally, we sought to determine the outcomes of resistance that have been assessed and the degree to which psychological health and well-being have been examined as an outcome of resistance within the literature. Findings from the analysis suggest the need for future examinations of the specific influence of Black American women’s collective action engagement and resistance to oppression on their well-being. Additionally, the findings of this review may have important implications for Black women’s well-being and as such, we discuss resistance work as a therapeutic intervention that can be encouraged by therapists, healers, community leaders, and educators.
“No need to hear your voice. Only tell me about your pain. I want to know your story. And then I will tell it back to you in a new way. Tell it back to you in such a way that it has become mine, my own” (hooks, 1989, p. 22). Collective action, broadly defined as efforts to transform systems and communities to be more equitable and just, seems to be the most widely studied and succinctly defined construct of resistance in psychology (Anyiwo et al., 2020). The construct generally refers to forms of civic engagement and sociopolitical action (voting, demonstrating or protesting, forming organizations, campaigning/running for political office, etc.) through which individuals or communities take action against inequity and injustice. Although the construct has been studied with racially marginalized persons broadly, a brief review conducted by the authors of 1086 titles and abstracts related to collective action identified in psychological literature 1 in the United States (U.S.) indicated that only two articles investigated the construct specifically with Black American adult women (i.e., any person identifying as a woman and whose heritage connects to the African Diaspora; Gordon & Anderson, 1999). In one study, Rapp and colleagues (2010) conducted a qualitative investigation of the process and outcomes of Black women’s online protest of sexual violence against women of color in their communities and identified the process of collective action to be both painful and rewarding. Women in the study reported disappointment with the lack of support they received but also reported an increased sense of agency, self-efficacy, and pride as a result of their activism. Taking a more expansive approach to framing collective action with Black women, Wingfield (2019) synthesized the ways in which Black women alter their social contexts (i.e., work, politics, and media) to be more equitable for themselves and other marginalized groups through activism and leadership. Both contributions point to nuances in collective action engagement for Black women and highlight the need for continued investigations into both the processes, consequences, and meanings of collective action for this social group.
Given that collective action may be the most widely studied construct related to resistance within psychological science, the identification of only these two articles following a search of collective action among Black American women is problematic. The absence of studies examining collective action specifically with Black women represents a serious deficit in psychological research and indicates inattention to the ways in which Black women circumscribe, make meaning from experiences with, and act as active dissenters to the systems that oppress them. As a result, the strength and creativity that Black women summon on the margins of society, as well as an understanding of the benefits of Black women’s engagement in oppositional action are largely made invisible within the field. The innovative ways that Black women work to transform oppressive systems for themselves, their families, and their communities hold critical lessons about the benefits and power of resistance and thus, such omission from psychology is a disservice to the field.
As posited by sociologist Collins (2009), Black women’s resistance is as complex and intersectional as the “matrix of domination,” or the structural inequities that facilitate their oppression. According to Collins, “If power as domination is organized and operates via intersecting oppressions, then resistance must show comparable complexity” (2009, p. 218). Following this notion, Black women’s collective action engagement, including civic and sociopolitical action, is likely to be inclusive of ways of being and movements that extend beyond traditional notions of what is considered to be “collective action.” Thus, it may be the case that a lack of identity-specific inquiry into collective action within the field of psychology has led to an oversight of Black’s women’s unique resistance to oppression and the impacts of their resistance on their personal and collective psychological health and well-being. Resistance may be a more appropriate construct to capture the breadth of Black women’s actions toward justice and against oppression, as it spans beyond the current hegemonic limits of “collective action.”
Black Feminist Theory
The assertion that Black women’s resistance to oppression may extend beyond commonly studied collective action efforts is consistent with Black feminist thought. Collins (2009) writes that Black feminist thought is the rich tradition of intellectual wisdom intertwined with social justice that is both inheritable from, and inherent to Black women in the U.S. Black feminist thought posits that the very social location formed at the crossroads of intersecting forms of subjugation (i.e., racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia) is also responsible for the myriad of ways that Black women resist these oppressions—both to the benefit of their own well-being and that of others. Alongside Lorde (1984), Hooks (2015), and others, Collins (2009) argues that Black women’s resistance is the product of carving out space for themselves and others to demand the right to thrive in a nation that pushes them to the margins of society. It is here in these margins that Black women create sites for radical change and resistance that transforms communities and produces justice. Simpson (2011) posits that this particular creation of sites of resistance can be referred to as calculated identity positioning. The author suggests that in reclaiming their rights to freedom from oppression, Black women use their distinct social locations to increase their personal and communal agency through political strategy, community action, othermothering, and other forms of resistance that are often overlooked in notions of collective action inherent to White, Western thought. As such, Black women have played a critical role in social change movements in the U.S. such as the Civil Rights movement (Barnett, 1993), struggle for women’s rights (Combahee River Collective, 1982), and struggle for Black liberation (Combahee River Collective, 1982). And yet the role of their resistance in their personal and collective psychological health and well-being has been a discussion largely absent from psychological research. This is the case despite psychology’s (i.e., counseling and community psychology) involvement in, and study of, advocacy and social justice.
Resistance and Well-being
Some contributions, primarily within social psychology, that have investigated collective action have been essential to understanding how a collective group’s socialization, critical consciousness, and experiences with discrimination inform their motivations to engage in social action, and to a lesser degree, the personal and collective well-being outcomes of such action. For example, collective action engagement has been directly associated with greater coping and meaning in life and indirectly related to post-traumatic growth with sexual assault survivors (Strauss Swanson & Szymanski, 2021). Among racially marginalized persons, engagement in social or political activism has been found to foster critical agency (DeAngelo et al., 2016), facilitate healing from oppression (Hope & Spencer, 2017), promote the formation of community networks and bonds (Ortega-Williams et al., 2018), and buffer the negative effects of discrimination on psychological distress (DeBlaere et al., 2013). Though limited, these results are promising, as they indicate potential positive relationships between resistance and improved well-being, specifically following experiences of discrimination or marginalization. Most importantly, such research should be expanded to include Black American women, as evidence of their critical involvement in liberation movements demonstrates that understanding the resistance efforts of this social group may be critically necessary to broaden our understanding and view of collective action (i.e., what can be considered as action taken to transform a community) to resistance more broadly and its role in psychological health and well-being.
Purpose
Black women’s experiences of discrimination, race-based traumatic stress, gendered racism, and the subsequent consequences of each on their psychological health and well-being are well-documented (e.g., Lewis et al., 2017). Despite contemporary and historical evidence of Black women’s critical involvement in liberation movements; however, psychological science has largely omitted their varied resistance to oppression and their acts to reclaim their well-being. Although resistance has come to mean many things, for the purpose of this study, we define resistance as oppositional action that individuals or groups engage with intention, in service of a goal related to social change or transformation (Chatterton & Heynen, 2011; Hollander & Einwohner, 2004; hooks, 1990; Mosley et al., 2020). Under this definition, resistance is expansive and thus can include both large- or small-scale, physical or symbolic, public or private action.
The fields of social, community, developmental, and counseling psychology have largely undertaken the task of investigating both the cognitive processes and social impacts of resistance (collective action, activism, sociopolitical action, civic engagement, etc.) in both dominant and marginalized communities (e.g., Hope et al., 2020; Mosley, Hargons, et al., 2021, Mosley, McNeil-Young, et al., 2021). However, specific to the line of inquiry presented in this review is the rare investigation of the impact of resistance on psychological health and well-being outcomes. Previous studies have focused on the role of resistance on academic, career, and developmental outcomes, primarily with racially, ethnically, and gender diverse adolescents, young adults, and college students. As such, we believed it was important to identify, review, and summarize the existing psychological research pertaining to a unique marginalized group, Black American adult women, and their efforts to resist both interpersonal and systemic oppression within the U.S. Specifically, our goals were to (a) identify articles pertaining to Black women’s resistance and summarize both characteristics of each article and definitions of resistance, (b) identify and summarize dimensions of resistance and specific corresponding strategies, (c) identify outcomes of resistance, and (d) assess the degree to which these outcomes are related to psychological health and well-being.
Method
Data and Procedure
We drafted this manuscript in accordance with the reporting guidelines outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol (Liberati et al., 2009). Regarding the literature search strategy, we used the PsycINFO database to conduct a keyword search of all empirical journal articles using combinations of the following search terms: “Black or African American or African-American,” “women or woman or female,” “resistance,” and “collective action or activism or social change.” We chose to focus our review on peer-reviewed empirical psychological research in order to accurately assess the field of psychology with regard to its current understanding of the impact of Black women’s involvement in intentional, oppositional action (i.e., resistance) in the U.S. As such, we omitted dissertations and conceptual papers from the review.
Of the 264 original articles identified through the search (from 1972 to 2019), we removed 165 from further consideration based on title and 42 articles after reviewing the abstract (see Figure 1). Consistent with our inclusion and exclusion criteria, we omitted an additional 34 articles following a full-text article review due to lack of relevance (n = 3); lack of disaggregated data specific to Black women in the U.S. (n = 15); children and/or adolescents included in the sample (n = 7); focus on critical consciousness without social/critical action (n = 3); and finally, collection of data from Black women living outside of the U.S. (n = 6). This process resulted in 23 articles for review, ranging in publication date from 1983 to 2018. Selection of Articles Following PsycINFO Database Search.
Coding Team
The coding team consisted of three fourth-year graduate students in a counseling psychology doctoral program with research and clinical interests related to the study of racism and factors that mitigate the mental health and academic consequences of various forms of race-related stress. One team member identified as a Black American and Nigerian cisgender woman (Coder One, first author), one as a White Latina, cisgender woman of Cuban and Argentinian descent (Coder Two, second author), and the third team member identified as a White cisgender woman (Coder Three, third author). The average age of the team was 29 years (range from 27 to 32 years of age). Coding team members identified as heterosexual (n = 2) and bisexual (n = 1), and all identified as sexual and gender minority allies. All team members identified as able-bodied at the time of coding. Prior to coding the data, the coders engaged in a discussion of reflexivity to examine their positionalities regarding the topics of inquiry and to acknowledge the potential for our social positions to result in distorted interpretations of the data. Acknowledging that both knowledge and perspective are shaped by unique contexts and experiences (Valentine, 2002), the coders discussed social identities, biases, experiences with discrimination, and areas of privilege that may have influenced both interpretation and coding of the data (Jorgenson, 2011). The coding team determined that given identified experiences, biases, and social positions, there may be an inclination to over-identify acts of resistance as emergent from the text, specifically given social positions as minoritized individuals who both endorse and engage in various forms of activism. We used critical reflexivity and explorations of positionality to reduce this bias, with the acknowledgment that bias cannot be completely eliminated and that awareness gained from reflexive processes alone is not sufficient to minimize subjectivity in the qualitative process (Pillow, 2003; Probst & Berenson, 2013).
Research Methodology and Data Analysis
The authors used qualitative content analysis to analyze all methods and results sections. Scholars have recommended content analysis as an appropriate methodology for examining a construct or phenomenon within a discipline or area where there is a dearth of information or knowledge pertinent to that phenomenon (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008). Experts in qualitative research have also deemed content analysis to be an effective methodology for analyzing open-ended responses (Elo et al., 2014). In the present review, we used content analysis to examine and identify themes among all activist activities extracted from quantitative studies at the item level. This allowed for examination of themes among specific resistance strategies identified in both the qualitative and quantitative data. Given the limited number of studies within psychology examining collective action and sociopolitical engagement with Black women, as well as the largely qualitative nature of existing studies, content analysis provided an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of an understudied construct (i.e., Black women’s resistance) within psychological science, its impact on psychological health, and its implications for well-being.
Overall, the purpose of the content analysis was to identify patterns between meaning units (e.g., themes and constructs), and condense similar meaning units into broader constructs or categories in order to contribute insight, knowledge, and recommendations where these are limited in the literature (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Given that the identified articles utilized quantitative and qualitative analyses, the first author first divided the articles by research methodology. Consistent with procedures outlined by Elo and Kyngäs (2008), we then analyzed data taken from the qualitative articles using a three-step process: preparing, organizing, and reporting. During the preparation phase, the coding team first determined that definitions, specific resistance strategies, outcomes related to resistance, and forms of oppression targeted by resistance efforts would be the units of analysis. Afterward, coding team members read each article thoroughly and took detailed notes. For quantitative articles, we streamlined the same process due to a reduced need to develop codes from the data.
During the organization phase, the coding team independently coded data retrieved from the methods and results sections of both the qualitative and quantitative articles, extracting themes from the written content. After independently coding, two of the three team members (i.e., Coders One and Two) met to discuss the thematic codes that were constructed during independent open coding. Where there were discrepancies in codes between the two coders, the third member (Coder Three) was asked to share their codes, and we discussed the codes until we reached consensus (Hill, 2012). Using credibility to establish trustworthiness, the third coder helped to triangulate thematic findings, allowing for greater confidence in the research process as well as a challenge to worldviews and assumptions that may have biased the results (Morrow, 2007). We then combined the themes were to form higher order themes or constructs and initially identified a total of 37 constructs.
Results
Characteristics of the Articles
Dimensions and Strategies of Resistance, Including Corresponding Number of Articles.
Note. LGBT = lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
Of the 23 identified articles, 73.9% (n = 17) utilized qualitative methodologies (e.g., in-depth interviews, archival research, and focus groups) and 26.1% (n = 6) used quantitative methodologies. Participants were cisgender and transgender women who racially identified as either Black or African American. In terms of age and life stage of the study samples represented in the articles, participants ranged in age from 18 to 70 years at the time of their engagement with strategies of resistance. Most studies represented data from Black/African American women in the community (n = 22; 95.7%); one study (4.3%) recruited Black/African American women college students from a university participant pool. Most articles focused solely on the experiences of Black/African American women (n = 15; 65.2%), whereas four articles (17.4%) investigated the resistance efforts of both Black and White cisgender women. An additional four articles examined resistance among Black cisgender women and Black cisgender men (17.4%). We retained these latter eight articles for analysis because the comparative nature of the research questions translated to the presentation of disaggregated results for Black women consistent with our inquiry.
Summary of Articles and Definitions of Resistance.
Note. LGBT = lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender; AA = African American. *Quantitative articles (all others are qualitative). **Direct definitions of resistance from participants’ narratives (all other definitions are from authors of identified articles).
Dimensions of Resistance
Articles by Dimension.
Sociopolitical Action
The first dimension of resistance was sociopolitical action and represented public forms of action or protest against injustice. Sociopolitical action was identified in 12 articles. Authors and participants discussed Black women’s decisions to resist oppression by joining or organizing marches, boycotts, or demonstrations, primarily in protest of racial injustice (e.g., police brutality) and gendered racism (e.g., violence against Black women). In older cohorts, Black women often reflected on their participation in the Civil Rights movement, which included resistance to segregated education and Jim Crow laws (e.g., Loder-Jackson, 2012).
Civic Engagement
Through civic engagement, Black women contributed to grassroots change in the Black community related to racial injustice, gender inequities, and economic inequality. Strategies coded under the dimension of civic engagement were categorized as actions taken within the context of local government to improve conditions in the community. Also discussed in 12 of the identified articles, Black women organized and volunteered to improve women’s rights, civil rights, and the rights of other marginalized communities. Brooks (2016) outlined one Black woman’s decision to use her site of employment to help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and Black families purchase homes that had previously been denied to them due to redlining and residential housing discrimination. Others organized unions (e.g., the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Eastern Arkansas; Williams, 2004) to push for equality in pay wages and labor for women tobacco farmers. Others became involved in local, state, and national politics by caucusing for the needs of the Black community (Hall & Fine, 2005), campaigning and holding public office, and attending council meetings to address concerns about public school education, public housing, and racial justice in their community.
Critical Consciousness
Critical consciousness, discussed in 11 of the identified articles, refers to the ways in which Black women facilitate critical awareness of their own and others’ sociopolitical positions and the historical formation of these positions society. Regarding racism, gendered racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia, the participants in the identified articles challenged and educated both in- and out-group members to empower them with historical knowledge related to systems of oppression and the personal and collective impact of such oppression (e.g., Brooks, 2016). These women pushed their students, family members, colleagues, and strangers to become aware of oppressive systems and structures and, through modeling and active encouragement, guided them toward their own strategies of critical action and resistance. Though similar to other dimensions of resistance, the focus of critical consciousness remained on education for the purpose of empowerment, reducing internalized oppression and bias, and restoring truthful narratives about the histories of marginalized communities.
Community and Coalition Building
Identified in eight articles, building community and coalition was frequently discussed alongside critical consciousness. This dimension represents the ways in which Black women build networks of community for safety, connection, and to stand in solidarity with other marginalized persons and groups (e.g., Bialeschki & Walbert, 1998). Fostering and staying in community emerged as a strategy for staying connected to, and grounded in, the needs of Black and other marginalized communities despite a pull to assimilate to the needs and values of the dominant culture (Rodriguez & Ward, 2018).
Othermothering
As “loving warriors” (Ramsey, 2012), Black women stood in as proxy mothers and caregivers for children, young activists, and Civil Rights leaders when their own mothers or support systems were not available to them. In Irons (1998) and Loder (2005), participants recalled activist mothering, or othermothering, as some of their most important engagement with social justice work. Othermothering, represented in six of the identified articles, involved feeding and housing students recently released from jail after they were arrested for demonstrating or boycotting; these students were often far from home and feared putting their families at risk for retaliation following their acts of civil protests. Black women organized food donation drives for incarcerated students and provided meals to civil rights workers and attorneys. Two women opened a rehabilitation home for previously incarcerated Black women, providing them with shelter, employment, and job skills-all necessary protections to avoid the consequences of unjust laws that recriminalize Black people for their inability to attain work and housing after release from prison (Brooks, 2016).
Advocacy for Equitable Education
Review of the six identified articles indicated that Black women played an essential role in facilitating desegregated education for the Black community through local and large-scale advocacy for equitable education. In addition to pushing for quality, integrated education for Black children, they established and worked in educational programs specifically for Black children and developed community programs to alleviate poverty and racial discrimination in education. Irons (1998) discussed Black women educators’ strategies for organizing against segregated education and inadequate professional preparation and development for younger Black educators. Through local community organizing, Black women educators sued school boards for denying Black children the right to enroll in White schools following the enactment of integration laws and for unequal salaries between Black and White educators. These women attained post-undergraduate education to ensure their own preparation for integrated education and created pathways for other women to do the same. Their efforts led to the integration of primary education institutions, advanced education for other Black women, and transformation of the culture of segregation throughout the U.S. South.
Challenging Oppression with Confrontation
Black women challenge oppression with confrontation and are radical disruptors to systems and institutions that are unjust. Six of the identified articles outlined ways in which participants spoke out against both interpersonal and structural oppression and rejected racial and gendered stereotypes, assumptions, and microaggressions. The participants spoke out against injustice not only directed toward them, but also against injustice directed toward others. This confrontation was especially apparent in classrooms, teaching institutions, and the workplace, where Black women consistently advocated for children, other teachers, and colleagues’ experiences of interpersonal degradation or institutional oppression. For example, Black mothers insisted on their lawful right to take breaks at work for breastfeeding purposes (Spencer et al., 2015) and Black teachers challenged White teachers who labeled Black students with racist stereotypes (Ramsey, 2012). In these articles, Black women challenged oppression with confrontation to advocate for their rights and those of their community members and to push back against the hegemonic violence that can be facilitated through silence.
Visibility
Visual resistance or visibility reflects the ways in which Black women pushed, challenged, and demanded that others accept their identity and their chosen expressions of that identity. Visual resistance emerged as a thematic dimension in four of the identified articles. For example, Hall and Fine (2005) discussed the ways in which two Black, queer women defied assumptions about what it meant to be Black, woman, and lesbian in the 1940s. The participants spoke of the interpersonal and structural racism they experienced as Black people, but also of the homophobia, transphobia, and sexism they experienced within the Black community. By “playing with gender” and intentionally pushing against the gender binary through dress/appearance and language, these women created space to thrive on the margins of society without sacrificing their sense of self or determination to resist subjugation. Other articles discussed ways in which Black women challenged hegemonic beauty standards by intentionally wearing natural hairstyles and asserting physical expressions of both womanhood and activism rooted in Blackness (e.g., Garrin & Marcketti, 2018). Through visibility, they challenged the notion that expressions of Black womanhood are inferior to White womanhood.
Financial Support
Similar to activist mothering, through financial support Black women made it possible for young Black activists to persist in their efforts to transform unjust systems. Financial support was identified in four articles. By hosting bake sales, fish fries, and other fundraisers, Black women raised money to build and support colleges, night schools, day care facilities, and Civil Rights movement actions (e.g., Stewart et al., 1998). Where economic inequality prevented Black communities from fair and equitable education, access to recreation and leisure, or social services (e.g., childcare), these women used their influence and social networks to garner community support.
Resisting Internalized Oppression
Finally, review of two articles demonstrated the ways in which Black women fight for equity, inclusion, and their well-being by explicitly resisting internalized oppression and refusing to accept an inferior quality of life (Garrin & Marcketti, 2018; Hall & Fine, 2005). Internalized oppression was categorized as actions that Black women took in their own lives to resist narratives of inferiority related to their social identities following self-reflection. The women in the identified articles set educational and career goals that spanned beyond gendered racial proscriptions deemed possible for them. Additionally, they relied on other Black women in the community to support and affirm them, which enabled them to reject notions of inferiority based on prejudice.
Outcomes Related to Resistance
Outcomes Related to Resistance.
Discussion
The discipline of psychology has emerged as a leader in its study of racial and gender oppression, intersectionality, and social justice (Fouad et al., 2005). Specifically, some community-focused areas of psychology have prioritized investigating the ways in which interpersonal and structural discrimination negatively affect psychological health and well-being among marginalized groups (García-Ramírez et al., 2014; Hartung & Blustein, 2002; Martín-Baró, 1996; Nelson & Prilleltensky, 2005). Some scholars have centered this work on the experiences of Black women, contributing valuable theories that have propelled the field forward regarding the relationships between intersecting forms of oppression and mental health disparities (Essed, 2001; Greene, 2000; Lewis & Neville, 2015). Recently, however, there has been a call to honor the resilience of marginalized groups by diverging from a deficit framework of investigating the link between oppression and mental or psychological health and toward a strengths-based framework that assumes, acknowledges, and investigates marginalized persons’ resistance to oppression (Davis & Museus, 2019).
As alluded to in the leading quote, one impact of colonization on psychological research and academic thought is the tendency to both highlight and frame marginalized persons’ experiences of oppression as debilitating and deterministic (hooks, 1990). A major contribution of this paper then, is the focus on Black women’s immense creativity and innovation in carving out sites of resistance from the spaces in which they and others experience subordination (Cañas, 2020). As noted by hooks (1990), their resistance is not an attempt to escape marginalization but rather, a reclamation of hope and liberation that can only be crafted on the margins. Thus, the opportunity for a group to define their own experiences through the lens of resistance despite marginalization is critical in advancing feminist, liberatory, and decolonial thought and research in psychology.
Research in line with this call to shift toward strengths-based science has examined resistance (e.g., collective action and sociopolitical action) with racially marginalized persons and found these constructs to be associated with positive psychological health and well-being outcomes (e.g., Hope et al., 2020; Mosley et al., 2020)
The first objective of this study was to identify definitions and specific strategies of resistance that Black women employ to combat the deleterious consequences of oppression. The current study identified 10 categories of resistance (see Table 2), with several spanning beyond notions of collective action and sociopolitical engagement typically examined in psychological science. For example, activist mothering (i.e., othermothering) emerged as one dimension of critical action that is often not acknowledged as a form of activism. Indeed, feeding Civil Rights activists, providing shelter and accommodations, and mentoring young people has been deemed “woman’s work” and peripheral to the movement of activist work. However, Naples (1992) argues that activist mothering is not only central to critical action but is consistent with the ways in which Black women have used strategies of caring as an assault on oppressive institutions. Collins (2009) also notes that a primary dimension of Black women’s activism is to utilize spheres of influence to undermine oppressive social structures. Although this may not be considered direct action to some, historically, such work has weathered anti-Black racism and sexism within institutions by ensuring Black survival and contributing to the group’s persistence and morale (Stack, 1974). Similar emergent resistance strategies that have historically been ignored as sites of activism include interpersonal confrontation as a means of challenging oppression, advocating for personal and communal health (e.g., educating other Black women about the benefits of breastfeeding; Spencer et al., 2015), supporting Black children in the classroom, fundraising, and sharing knowledge of domestic skills with the outcome of boosting the Black economy. In a capitalist society focused on productivity, aggression, or vocality as veritable forms of activism, these “silent” forms of activism can be overlooked (Naples, 1992). Again, however, such resistance is consistent with Black women’s intentions to undermine oppressive systems by engineering the support that their communities need.
Another study goal was to identify the outcomes of resistance reported in psychological research and to assess the degree to which psychological health and well-being have been examined as outcomes (see Table 3). The identified outcomes were connection and community (e.g., sustained connection with others), meaning and purpose (e.g., felt impact of resistance), health and well-being (e.g., improved physical and psychological health), career growth and satisfaction (e.g., upward career mobility), collective identity formation (e.g., affirmation in identity as a Black woman), community transformation (e.g., organizational and institutional change), empowerment and self-efficacy (e.g., greater self-efficacy), and political efficacy (e.g., greater collective action engagement within the community). Though psychological health was directly assessed in only one study (i.e., Lee, 2004), several studies (i.e., Garrin & Marcketti, 2018; Spencer et al., 2015 Stewart et al., 1998; Williams, 2004) either assessed or discussed the effect that resistance had on the well-being of its participants. For example, in Williams (2004), African American women reported a greater sense of political efficacy, discussing that their social activism and intentionality in imbuing Black children with knowledge about the precipitants for the Civil Rights movement caused them to feel that their actions had a tangible impact on the welfare of their community. Their activism, which began as novel ideas for service within their churches and schools, led to the formation of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, leadership roles in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and an afterschool program (i.e., Freedom School) whose model remains a haven for Black children throughout the nation. Of critical importance for this study, their activism facilitated both self-efficacy and political efficacy, and transformed them from “unknown and unconfident” citizens to social justice leaders and change agents (Higginbotham, 1994, p. 17).
Indeed, outcomes (i.e., political efficacy, self-efficacy, meaning/purpose, and collective identity formation) identified in this content analysis have been examined as well-being variables in previous empirical studies. For example, political efficacy reported as a result of social activism has been associated with lower levels of helplessness and psychological distress among African American male adolescents (Zimmerman et al., 1999) and with higher levels of psychological and social well-being among young adults in Hong Kong (Chan et al., 2021). For others, engaging in resistance efforts created opportunities for healing and the formation of supportive relationships that had invaluable benefits for individual and collective wellness. For example, Mahali (2017) discusses the impact of critical awareness and community organizing on the collective identity formation of Black women in South Africa and their observations that such formation has a profound positive impact on both self-determination and pride among the women engaged in resistance. Consistent with this prior literature then, the relationship between resistance, psychological health, and well-being deserves specific attention and examination with Black women in the U.S. As demonstrated through this review, the individual and collective benefits of Black women’s resistance are likely to be evidenced.
Finally, of notable mention for this article is the observation of forms of oppression targeted by participants’ resistance. For the purposes of this study, and apart from the assessment of resistance to gendered racism, we deduced and parsed singular forms of oppression from the text and recorded them for reporting. Though this enabled us to determine which forms of oppression may be understudied within psychological science (e.g., environmental racism was examined in a single study (Rodriguez & Ward, 2018), and thus warrants further attention), individuals and communities do not experience discrimination as unidimensional or engage resistance strategies that target a singular form of oppression. Instead, multiple forms of oppression (racism, sexism, capitalism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc.) work together in interlocking systems of domination to uphold and validate one another (Crenshaw, 1991). Such is the lived experience of Black women, and in reality, their resistance is directed toward the dismantling of all oppression simultaneously. This was most apparent in Hall and Fine (2005), as participants discussed the ways that their strategies of “playing with gender” combatted the homophobia and transphobia specific to the Black community and challenged the gendered, racial, and sexualized expectations of what was deemed permissible for Black women at that time. Additionally, throughout the identified articles, it was often a “coming into” critical awareness of the interconnectedness of discrimination that led participants to engage in resistance. Consistent with Black feminist thought, Black women’s social location on the margins of various identity constructs positions them to be advocates for all marginalized people. It is for this reason that attending to and learning from their specific strategies of resistance may be the key to liberation for all.
Study Limitations
Study findings should be considered in light of a number of important limitations. First, the content analysis only included published papers identified in the PsycINFO database. Though the search strategy aligned with the goal of accessing only peer-reviewed psychological literature, the present findings are biased to the extent to which they exclude unpublished investigations of Black women’s resistance and scholarly work from other disciplines. Thus, the findings of this content analysis are solely dependent on prior psychological research in the area of Black women’s resistance, which as noted previously, is scant. We realize that this is an important limitation and that the fields of sociology, women’s studies, public health, and legal studies have contributed significantly to knowledge concerning Black women’s historic role as leaders of social change. However, much of this literature is not concerned with psychological health as an outcome of resistance, so including these examinations was beyond the scope of the primary research questions. In addition, the coding decisions reflect the knowledge, biases, and interpretations of the coding team. As such, another group of coders may observe dimensions, specific categories, and outcomes of resistance that vary from those reported in this study; such a limitation is always present in qualitative content analysis. Despite this possibility, however, the use of multiple coders and substantive discussion to compare identified codes has been found to lead to intercoder consistency that is sufficient to validate findings in systematic reviews, without calculation of intercoder reliability indices (Thomas & Harden, 2008). Thus, we have confidence in our reported findings.
Practice Implications
As the target of multiple forms of oppression, Black women are at heightened risk of internalizing oppressive narratives that have negative consequences for their psychological health and well-being. There are mixed findings concerning the role of resistance (e.g., collective action and activism) in reducing symptoms of psychological distress related to individual-level discrimination or systems-level oppression. Consistent with the findings of this review, however, those who engage in resistance work may not do so to attain an individual-level benefit, but rather because their love for and commitment to their community compels them to engage action that facilitates justice and collective freedom. Though it is unclear whether resistance work has direct benefits on psychological health, the findings of this review and other studies make evident that resistance has important implications for improving spiritual (e.g., meaning in life), psychological (e.g., increased self-efficacy), and relational (e.g., increased sense of belonging, critical consciousness, and connection to community) well-being. For Black women, engaging in resistance work may facilitate movement from internalized oppression to empowerment, strengthen their collective identity as they work alongside others engaged in resistance work, or transform feelings of helplessness into hope through concrete action (French et al., 2020; Tatum, 1997). With this knowledge, mental health clinicians can promote resistance as an intervention tool for Black women experiencing distress due to oppression and in this way, promote a strengths-based focus on well-being. Therapists, spiritual leaders, healers, and educators can encourage Black women in their care to engage resistance work as one aspect of a well-rounded plan for radical healing from discrimation that includes collective, liberatory practices that foster cultural authenticity, critical consciousness, self-knowledge, and collective resilience (Mosley et al., 2021).
Future Directions
Overall, this review demonstrates that associations between resistance and well-being are indeed present, but when measured against the breadth of discrimination research, inquiries into the psychological health and well-being consequences of critical action specific to Black women are limited and in need of continued exploration. This dearth is the primary gap that emerged from this content analysis. The findings of this content analysis are solely dependent on prior research in the area of Black women’s resistance, which noted previously, is scant. As such, the principal recommendation is for psychological science to broaden its investigation of intentional, oppositional action beyond the bounds of collective action and to center the experiences of Black women when examining collective action and other constructs of resistance. Such investigations will expand our understanding of social action to include sites of resistance that may be currently overlooked (activist mothering, silent activism, etc.). As historical leaders of social change, Black women have much to contribute to the conversation regarding the shape and form of collective action (Collins, 2009).
An additional emergent gap in psychological science is the lack of studies examining the impact of Black women’s resistance on their personal psychological health, as well as that of their families and communities. A second recommendation, then, is to distinctly focus on the ways in which Black women are engaging activism, advocacy, and other forms of agency to push back against the deleterious health consequences of oppression. Further, given Black women’s motivations and commitments to transforming unjust systems both for themselves and their communities, as well as the evidence of community transformation as a result of their action, it stands to reason that their families and communities may benefit from improved psychological health, political self-efficacy, and locus of control. A third recommendation is for the field of psychology to take an interdisciplinary approach to studying Black women’s collective action engagement and resistance more broadly. Studies originating from sociology, African American or Black studies, women’s studies, public health, and legal scholarship have contributed significantly to knowledge concerning Black women’s efforts in social change movements, and such knowledge must be integrated into psychological inquiries. The rich, intersectional study of Black women’s lives and experiences mandates an interdisciplinary approach to inquiry and interpretation.
Finally, in this review we present a rich taxonomy of both the numerous ways that Black women act to transform systems by creating sites of resistance and the overwhelming benefits of their action on individual, familial, and collective well-being. The findings presented here have significant implications for feminist and resistance research, more broadly. Most importantly, it is our hope that our findings will encourage greater attention to psychological health and well-being outcomes in future work. At present, examinations of well-being as an outcome of resistance are limited within psychological science. Studies related to various forms of resistance often focus on the process of resistance and the factors that lead an individual or community to engage in oppositional action (e.g., Bañales et al., 2020; Chan & Mak, 2020; Pinedo et al., 2021). Where outcomes have been examined among marginalized adults, they have primarily focused on the role of resistance in coping with or reducing discrimination-related stress (e.g., Breslow et al., 2015). At present, there is some evidence to suggest that resistance can act as a buffer against racism, sexism, and minority stress (e.g., Velez & Moradi, 2016), but these findings are mixed. As such, additional research investigating the role of resistance in buffering distress is necessary. More importantly, however, is a needed shift in psychology to prioritizing explicit examinations of well-being (self-esteem, collective esteem, belonging, etc.) as outcomes of resistance among Black American women and other marginalized adults, in order to bolster the much-needed focus on strengths-based approaches to research. Some indicators of well-being have been found to intervene in the link between discrimination and stress, further demonstrating their important role in the lives of individuals and communities who are pushed to the margins by systemic oppression (e.g., hopefulness; Mitchell et al., 2020). Though resistance may not significantly improve psychological health related to discrimination, it may function to improve other critical aspects of well-being that bolster one’s sense of worth and connection to community, and decrease internalized oppression. In turn, these aspects of well-being may reduce the deleterious impact of diminished psychological functioning by reinforcing individual and collective coping and restoring a sense of pride in their identities.
Conclusion
At present, psychological research on resistance has focused on collective action and the processes that guide choices to engage in collective efforts to transform systems. Black women are one social group who are understudied, and thus made invisible in collective action research. One consequence of their omission may be a more holistic understanding of the many ways in which marginalized groups resist oppression—or engage in intentional, oppositional action outside the bounds of hegemonic notions of collective action efforts. As such, this content analysis provides an overview of psychological science related to Black women’s resistance to oppression, through active engagement in their communities, workplaces, and other spheres of influence. Specifically, this analysis summarized the ways in which Black women act as change agents, modifying their environments in deliberate attempts to ameliorate the consequences of individual, interpersonal, and structural oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, gendered racism, and ableism). Currently, discrimination research with Black women is primarily conducted from a pathological perspective (Spates, 2012; Washington, 2006), focusing on various ways that Black women experience psychological health declines or cope with distress following incidents of interpersonal oppression (e.g., microaggressions). It is hoped that this analysis can serve as inspiration and a direct call to honor the full narratives of Black women’s lives by broadening the scope of psychological research to focus on the ways that their resistance to oppression impacts their personal and collective psychological health and well-being.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
