Patricia Hill Collins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Patricia Hill Collins
Born	Patricia Hill (1948-05-01) May 1, 1948 (age 77) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	Brandeis University (BA, PhD) Harvard University (MA)
Notable work	Black Feminist Thought (1990)
Spouse(s)	Roger Collins ​ (m. 1977)​
Children	1 (Valerie Collins)
Awards	Berggruen Prize (2023)
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Cincinnati University of Maryland, College Park
Thesis	Race, Gender and Labor Market Structure (1983)
Influences	Angela Davis Ida B. Wells-Barnett Pauli Murray Toni Morrison

Patricia Hill Collins, born May 1, 1948, is an American professor. She studies important topics like race, social class, and gender. She used to be a top professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She also led the African-American Studies department at the University of Cincinnati.

In 2009, Collins became the 100th president of the American Sociological Association (ASA). She was the first African-American woman to hold this important position. Her work mainly focuses on issues of race, gender, and social inequality within the African-American community. She became well-known for her book Black Feminist Thought, first published in 1990.

Her Early Life

Patricia Hill Collins was born on May 1, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up as an only child in a neighborhood that was mostly Black and working-class. Both of her parents worked. Her father, Albert Hill, was a factory worker and a veteran of World War II. Her mother, Eunice Hill, was a secretary.

Collins started daycare when she was two and a half years old. Her love for reading and learning came from her mother. Eunice Hill had always wanted to be an English teacher. She went to Howard University but could not finish due to high costs. Still, Eunice made sure Collins was exposed to books. She taught her to read and took her to the public library.

As a child, Collins felt safe in her neighborhood. She played freely in the streets with friends. She enjoyed roller skating and jumping double Dutch rope. Collins is also a musician. She can play the trumpet, piano, and organ. In high school, she played the organ at her church.

Her Education Journey

Collins went to public schools in Philadelphia. Even when she was young, she noticed her school mostly served white, middle-class students. This was true even though it was in a mostly Black neighborhood. In the 1950s and 1960s, schools in northern cities like Philadelphia helped people move up in society. They were well-funded but could be hard to navigate, especially for African-Americans. Patricia was part of a group of young people who had more educational chances than their parents.

Elementary and High School

Collins attended Frederick Douglas Elementary School. Later, she went to Philadelphia High School for Girls. This school was founded in 1848 as the first public high school for women in the nation. Collins was there in the 1960s when schools in the U.S. started to desegregate. This experience helped her become interested in sociology, feminism, and activism for African-Americans and civil rights.

College and Career

In 1965, Collins started college at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She studied sociology and graduated with honors in 1969.

She then earned a Master of Arts degree in Teaching from Harvard University in 1970. From 1970 to 1976, she worked as a teacher and curriculum specialist.

From 1976 to 1980, she directed the Africana Center at Tufts University. Tufts was mostly a white school. Collins worked to bring Black culture and ideas to the campus. She also aimed to highlight issues important to Black women.

In 1984, she earned her doctorate in sociology from Brandeis University. While studying for her Ph.D., Collins became an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati in 1982. She taught in the Africana Studies Department for over twenty years. She retired in 2005 as a distinguished professor of sociology.

In 1986, Collins published her first important article. It was called "Learning From the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought." This article made her known as a key sociologist. It talked about how Black women used their unique position to fight against unfair social rules.

In 1990, Collins published her first book, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. This book was revised in 2000 and translated into several languages.

In 2005, Collins joined the sociology department at the University of Maryland, College Park. She became a distinguished university professor. She works with students on topics like critical race theory, intersectionality, and feminist theory. She continues to research and write about social, racial, and gender issues. Her work is now recognized worldwide. Collins wants to understand how young African-American men and women's experiences with education, jobs, and culture connect with global issues. These include social inequalities, global capitalism, and political activism.

Key Ideas and Books

Patricia Hill Collins has written many important books. They explore how race, class, and gender affect people's lives.

Black Feminist Thought

In 1990, Collins published Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. This book looked at Black feminist ideas through the works of people like Angela Davis and Alice Walker. Collins used many sources, including stories, poems, music, and oral history. This was the first book to include literature by and about African-American women.

Collins uses the term intersectionality, which means how different types of oppression, like racism and sexism, overlap. She calls this a "matrix of domination."

• Black women have unique histories because they face many systems of power at once. This has helped them create their own ways of thinking. These ideas help them define themselves and work for social justice.
• Black women's experiences with overlapping oppressions help us understand these issues for other groups too.
• Black feminist ideas about race and gender came from Black communities. They were not just against white feminism.

In Black Feminist Thought, Collins shows two main themes in Black women's work. One is how Black women's paid jobs are shaped by race, class, and gender. Many Black women still work in low-paying service jobs. The second theme is how Black women's unpaid family work can be both limiting and empowering. Collins says Black women often see their unpaid household work as a way to resist oppression.

In a 2017 interview, Collins talked about stereotypes Black women face. She mentioned four main ones:

• The "mule": a woman who works hard without complaining.
• The "jezebel": a woman shown in a harmful way.
• The "mammy": a Black woman domestic worker who is overly loyal to her employer.
• The "Black lady": an educated Black woman who gives up family for a career.

These images are used to make it seem normal for Black women to be treated unfairly.

Collins also shared how hard it was to write this book. She said there was no space for her ideas at the time. They had to create that space to talk about race, class, gender, and intersectionality.

Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology

In 1992, Collins worked with Margaret Andersen to publish Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology. This book is a collection of essays on race, class, and gender. It is known for helping to shape these fields of study and the idea of intersectionality. The essays cover many topics, from history to how minority groups are shown in the media today.

Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice

Collins' third book, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice, came out in 1998. It looked at how Black women's knowledge helps understand social injustices. She explained how "outsiders" can resist common views and create new insights into injustice. Collins believes that the ideas of oppressed groups are important. Their different experiences offer new ways to look at human rights.

Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism

Collins' book, Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism, was published in 2004. It won an award from the American Sociological Association. This book argued that racism and sexism are connected in many parts of life. For example, how ideas of beauty can oppress African-American men and women. Collins says that to fight against unfair gender roles, people need to act individually and as a community. They also need to value success in areas other than just money or beauty.

From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism

In 2006, she published From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism. This book explores the connection between black nationalism, feminism, and women in the hip-hop generation. It is a collection of her essays. Collins looks at modern racism, which she calls "new racism." She shows how old ideas about racism stop society from fixing ongoing wrongs. She discusses American identity, motherhood, and how women are shown in hip-hop. After the Civil Rights Movement, she argues, racism changed. It went from clear segregation to a "colorblind" racism that promised equal chances but didn't always deliver.

Another Kind of Public Education: Race, Schools, the Media and Democratic Possibilities

In 2009, Collins published Another Kind of Public Education: Race, Schools, the Media and Democratic Possibilities. In this book, she encourages people to be aware of and prevent discrimination against African-American children in public schools. Collins explains that teachers have great power. They can promote either unfair or accepting attitudes. She says the education system is influenced by the media. Collins sees racism as a system that stops education and democracy from reaching their full potential. She gives examples of how teachers can fight "colorblind racism." This helps ensure children have safe classrooms and freedom to express themselves.

A main point in her book is how important education is for creating good citizens. It also helps those who feel left out feel powerful. Collins shares personal stories about feeling "silenced in Philadelphia's public schools." This helps explain how important education is for democracy.

Other Books

Collins co-edited The Handbook of Race and Ethnic Studies (2010). This book looks at racial and ethnic differences through an intersectional view.

In 2012, she published On Intellectual Activism. This book is a collection of essays and interviews. She explains how ideas are important for social change. Topics include the history of intersectionality, education, human rights, and social protests.

Career Honors and Awards

Collins is known as a social theorist. She has written over 40 articles and essays. They have been published in many fields, including philosophy, history, and sociology.

In 2023, she became the first African American woman to win the Berggruen Prize. This is a $1 Million award given to thinkers who shape political, economic, and social systems.

Some of her other honors include:

• Faculty of the Year Award at the University of Cincinnati (1991)
• C. Wright Mills Award for Black Feminist Thought (1991)
• Jessie Bernard Award for important work on Gender (1993)
• Named the Charles Phelps Taft Professor of Sociology (1996)
• American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Book Award for Black Sexual Politics (2007)
• W. E. B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award (2017)
• Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2022)

Her Work with the American Sociological Association

Patricia Hill Collins was an ASA (American Sociological Association) Minority Fellow in the 1980s. She led the Minority Fellowship program from 1985 to 1988. In 2008, she became the 100th president of the ASA. She was the first African-American woman to hold this role in the organization's 104-year history.

Her work with the ASA, "The New Politics of Community," was published in the American Sociological Review. She argues that "community" is a changing political idea. It has many different goals and can be used to study issues of race, sex, and gender. She explains why community is useful for social study:

• The word "community" is common and helps define group identity.
• Communities are flexible and easy to research.
• Communities can have many different goals and show various social practices.
• The idea of community can make people feel strongly and act.
• Community is central to how people organize and experience social inequalities.

Social Activism

On October 13, 2014, Patricia Hill Collins gave a lecture at DePaul University in Chicago. It was called "Charting a New Course: Intersectionality and Black Activism." She spoke to university students and Chicago residents. Collins discussed stereotypes about activism. She also talked about intersectionality and how to use it to challenge oppression. She encouraged the audience to work together and participate in activism. Collins' lecture helped her audience think critically about sociology. It showed them how to use ideas to gain power.

Media Appearances

Collins has appeared in various media to discuss her work:

• In 2009, she gave a "book talk" about Another Kind of Public Education at a bookstore in Washington D.C. She explained how public education is influenced by media and racism.
• In 2012, she gave a commencement speech at Arcadia University. She shared stories from her childhood and how she learned to use her voice for social change.
• In 2014, she spoke at Grand Valley State University. She talked about "colorblindness" and racial profiling, especially concerning African Americans. She also read from Black Feminist Thought.
• In 2016, The Guardian newspaper asked her about the 2016 U.S. election results and sexism. Collins said she was disappointed but would keep fighting. She believes America has made progress but still needs to fight for a strong democracy.
• In 2018, Collins gave a lecture at the University of Cambridge. She discussed her sociology career and the intersectional approach. She also returned to her main question: "What will it take for Black people to be free?"
• In 2022, she was interviewed by Gênero e Número. She talked about Black Lives Matter and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She noted that while the ruling shocked many young women, it was less surprising for those who never had such rights in the first place.

Her Legacy

Patricia Hill Collins is known for her ideas on intersectionality and community. These ideas have greatly influenced how we study race and social groups. Professor Gurminder Bhambra wrote in 2015 that Collins not only supported existing African American sociology but also pushed the field in new directions. Bhambra said Collins' 1990 book Black Feminist Thought has been a guide for researchers. It has brought more voices into important conversations and broken down traditional academic barriers.

Images for kids

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  Patricia Hill Collins

See also

• Standpoint feminism § Black feminism