Buy new:
-7% $15.76$15.76
This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Please choose a different delivery location.
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
Save with Used - Good
$7.94$7.94
This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Please choose a different delivery location.
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Kuleli Books
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
OK
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective Paperback – December 5, 2017
There is a newer edition of this item:
$17.95
(491)
This title will be released on July 1, 2025.
Purchase options and add-ons
The Combahee River Collective, a path-breaking group of radical black feminists, was one of the most important organizations to develop out of the antiracist and women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 70s. In this collection of essays and interviews edited by activist-scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, founding members of the organization and contemporary activists reflect on the legacy of its contributions to Black feminism and its impact on today’s struggles.
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. Her book From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation won the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book. Her articles have been published in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, Jacobin, New Politics, The Guardian, In These Times, Black Agenda Report, Ms., International Socialist Review, and other publications. Taylor is Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.
- Print length200 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHaymarket Books
- Publication dateDecember 5, 2017
- Dimensions5 x 0.5 x 7.5 inches
- ISBN-109781608468553
- ISBN-13978-1608468553
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This new collection of a four-decades-old text reminds us that black women have long known that America’s destiny is inseparable from how it treats them and the nation ignores this truth at its peril.”
—The New York Review of Books
“A striking collection that should be immediately added to the Black feminist canon.”
—Bitch Media
“An essential book for any feminist library.”
—Library Journal
About the Author
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is the author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, a semi-finalist for the 2019 National Book Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2020, and From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, winner of the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book in 2016. She is also editor of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, which won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBQT nonfiction in 2018. She is a 2021 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Taylor is a contributing writer at The New Yorker, a former contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Boston Review, Paris Review, Guardian, The Nation, Jacobin, and Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, among others. Taylor is Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University.
Product details
- ASIN : 1608468550
- Publisher : Haymarket Books (December 5, 2017)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 200 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781608468553
- ISBN-13 : 978-1608468553
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.5 x 7.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #195,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #347 in Black & African American History (Books)
- #370 in Feminist Theory (Books)
- #1,566 in Sociology Reference
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Taylor’s writing and scholarship engage issues of contemporary Black politics, the history of Black social movements and Black radicalism, and issues concerning public policy, race and racial inequality. Taylor is author of Race For Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2020. She is also author of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective which won the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction. In 2021, Taylor was selected as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. She has been a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and a contributing writer for The New Yorker.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book insightful and inspiring. They describe it as a thoughtful, valuable read that is well worth reading. The author's visual style is described as beautiful and nice. The book is timely and a quick, absorbing read.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book thought-provoking and inspiring. They appreciate Taylor's skill in drawing out her subjects and allowing them to speak for an extended period. The book provides insights and lessons learned and missed in the history of black liberation. Readers appreciate the richness of the history of women, telling collective stories of movement.
"...really worked for my students of all hues, cultures, world views and gender expressions, producing excellent discussions that continued to resonate..." Read more
"...Taylor expertly curates a lovely set of conversations on both the history and future of black liberation struggles." Read more
"...Another interesting and revealing feature was its strong critique of the White feminist movement, and why the CRC broke away from that movement...." Read more
"...There’s such a richness in the history of women telling collective stories of movement in a world that prioritizes singular, protagonistic narratives..." Read more
Customers find the book insightful and informative. They describe it as a quick, engaging read that provides valuable information about anti-racism and sexism.
"...How We Got Free is an excellent teaching book. First, it is short and a brisk, absorbing, serious read...." Read more
"...A brilliant and quick read." Read more
"...It is worth reading by anyone interested in the anti-racism and anti-sexism movements in the United States." Read more
"Brilliant and timely in both its new analysis and the rescuing of a pivotal document...." Read more
Customers appreciate the author's way of painting a picture about the CRC statement.
"...The author has a way of painting a picture about the CRC statement and its connection to all the points and historical moments leading to this..." Read more
"I found How We Get Free to be interesting as it was a personal look into a specific point of time in each woman's life as they founded a movement...." Read more
"Nice." Read more
"Beautiful and Timely..." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's timely analysis and brisk read. They find it brilliant and absorbing.
"...First, it is short and a brisk, absorbing, serious read...." Read more
"Brilliant and timely in both its new analysis and the rescuing of a pivotal document...." Read more
"The book came quickly and it’s a really short read" Read more
"Beautiful and Timely..." Read more
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2018As a citizen-learner envisioning, advocating and working for a more humane and democratic society, one grounded in love and respect for humanity, I found How We Get Free deep, rich and absorbing. Both the Combahee River Collective and Keeyanga-Yahmahtta Taylor inspire this reader and offer much to ponder about the unfolding struggle. I especially like how this is a documentary work that both reminds us of lessons learned and other lessons missed in the past and asks us to do something crucial with our history: learn from it. I could go on.
But I want to talk about How We Get Free from a teacher's standpoint. I assigned it this semester in my university seminar, "Writing American Politics." I almost assigned it to my other seminar, "Documenting Black Experiences," where it would fit nicely, but I needed it to balance other readings (Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, Dan T. Carter, Politics of Rage: George Wallace and the Transformation of American Politics) in "Writing American Politics," and I did not want the reading lists to overlap too much. How We Got Free is an excellent teaching book. First, it is short and a brisk, absorbing, serious read. Beyond that, Taylor generously offers us her deep engagement--and an almost irresistible opportunity to make undertake our own plunge--with this Black feminist manifesto born of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which also speaks to many of our current predicaments. Her transcribed and edited interviews introduce us to particularly thoughtful voices from founders of the Combahee River Collective and Black Lives Matter. The willingness of these movements to confront not only white supremacy but homophobic and heteronormative politics is inspiring and instructive. My students enjoying this vista on an earlier generation of Black women's lives and struggles and the thoughtful way that Taylor as both editor and essayist connects that generation with their own generation. Any professor paying attention in the classroom knows that students want to be able to connect historical events to their own generation's wrestling with the world around them. This really worked for my students of all hues, cultures, world views and gender expressions, producing excellent discussions that continued to resonate as we went forward into other conversations.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2019Getting an opportunity to learn from Black Feminist radicals of the 20th century was a treat in itself. Taylor expertly curates a lovely set of conversations on both the history and future of black liberation struggles.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2020The realness of this book takes my life to new heights. It is so rich with historical references and truth. The author has a way of painting a picture about the CRC statement and its connection to all the points and historical moments leading to this present movement. I'm overjoyed to have chosen this book, to be inspired, and to continue to push towards the aims of the CRC statement and vision of many of the contributors of the book. A brilliant and quick read.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2021Looking to understand the Combahee River Collective Statement, it’s framers and its subsequent impact on the continuing struggle for Black freedoms, then this is the book for you!
- Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2018I am a straight white male, so my views on this book may be biased, however, I found How We Get Free to be a powerful, thoughtful and thought-provoking book on Black Feminism. The book brought back the heady days in the '70s , when almost anything seemed possible, both positive and negative. Having lived through those years I was inevitably confronted by the challenges Feminism posed for men, however, I had no idea that such a thing as Black Feminism existed, though I was quite familiar with Black culture.
Most of the book consists of interviews with 3 founders of the Combahee River Collective (and authors of its Statement). Taylor is very good at drawing out her subjects, and letting them speak for an extended period before moving on to another question. She is also good at allowing them to speak in their own voices, without trying to "clean up" some of their stop-and-go syntax or odd word choices. I found this a little disconcerting at first, but it added an interesting dimension to the book.
The subjects of her interviews were all very blunt and occasionally sarcastic in their speech. It gradually became clear to me that this was due to both the nature of the topic, and to the comfort they felt talking with Keeanga Taylor. It is clear the three women who were members of the Collective were deeply focused on an economic as well as social analysis of the role and position of Black women in America, and their interviews formed the backbone of the book, for me. Another interesting and revealing feature was its strong critique of the White feminist movement, and why the CRC broke away from that movement. Equally revealing was How We Got Free's commentary on the powerful tension between Black men and Black women, especially Black Feminists.
The CRC's Statement came early in the book, and for this reason, I found the Statement difficult to follow, and even more difficult to grasp its importance. After reading the rest of the book, I re-read the Statement, and I recommend this for everyone who is not familiar with the Combahee River Collective and its work.
I found this an inspiring book, one from which I learned a great deal. It is worth reading by anyone interested in the anti-racism and anti-sexism movements in the United States.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2021This is for “freedom dreamers,” as one of the contributors is called. There’s such a richness in the history of women telling collective stories of movement in a world that prioritizes singular, protagonistic narratives. It’s a fabulous chronicle of Black Feminist Organizing that anyone looking to build sustainable movements, can use.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2018Brilliant and timely in both its new analysis and the rescuing of a pivotal document. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the world we’re in now and especially for those looking to change it.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2020For anyone who wishes to understand the fulcrum of the CRCS and its lasting influence, this book provides such insights. Teaching Black feminism and radical Black feminism will also be easier with this book.
Top reviews from other countries
OBReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 20203.0 out of 5 stars undoubtedly important
but i was concerned by the lack of accessibility of this book. it reads a little too much when you go to someone else's family dinner and everybody but you already knows all the stories and the people involved. probably great if you know lots about this topic but i found it so hard to access and do any learning really. respect for this book though also i'm not knocking it i'm just saying you might need to have quite a lot of knowledge before hitting this one.








