Audre Lorde Research Paper

Lewis 1
Andy Lewis
Dr. Francesca Tronchin
Modern U.S. History
15 April 2016 Audre Lorde In “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” one of Lorde’s renowned poems, she argues that speaking out is vital when she states: (move to ties with civil rights?)

I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.... What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language. I began to ask each time: "What's the worst that could happen to me …show more content…
Born as Audrey Geraldine Lorde, on February 18, 1934, Lorde was born as the youngest of three other daughters to Caribbean immigrant laborers, Frederick Byron Lorde and Linda Gertrude Belmar Lorde. Lorde however was not born a healthy baby, as she was born nearsighted to the point of blindness and tongue tied which later would only imped her speech development. Linda Lorde, a known lover of words, taught Audre to read and write at the early age of four. This affection for words naturally passed on to Audre, and this extreme infatuation for words would later become her salvation. An early sign of creativity and individuality sprung as Lorde decided to omit the “-y” from her name as she adored the evenness of Audre Lorde. Despite being born with deficiencies, Lorde went on to face further discrimination as she was educated by Catholic grammar schools at an early age. Most notably, racism bombarded Lorde at St. Mark’s School and St. Catherine’s School. Unfazed, Lorde began writing her own poems and created a close-knit group of fellow “outcasts.” Lacking the integral skill of oral communication, Lorde would often memorize poems and would recite them when people asked her about how she felt. Further elements in her early life caused inspiration in her poems later on, especially with her troubled relationship with her …show more content…
Lorde, however, didn’t stop writing eloquent poetry, and instead utilized literature to nonviolently fight the social and civil injustices she faced. “As Black people, we cannot begin our dialogue by denying the oppressive nature of male privilege. And if Black males choose to assume that privilege, for whatever reason, raping, brutalizing, and killing women, then we cannot ignore Black male oppression. One oppression does not justify another,” Lorde criticized African American men in their perpetuating role in sexual harassment. As stated in one of Lorde’s works Black Women Writers, she began to address sexism in tandem with racism and love in her eloquent works of poetry. Not only criticizing males in her prolific works of poetry, Lorde also argued feminism which was beautifully depicted in Sister Outsider. Although this statement may seem contradictory to Lorde’s beliefs and her position as an activist, her criticism was only towards the exclusiveness of feminism during the time. Lorde emphasized the fact that feminism only looked towards white, heterosexual women, and as a result, women of color and homosexuality became excluded. Lorde argued in order for feminism to be truly effective, women of all

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