American author, professor, feminist, and social activist, Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name, bell hooks, has died at the age of 69, her family announced.
She passed away on Wednesday at her home in Kentucky, surrounded by her family and friends, according to a press statement released by her family.
Ebony Motley, her niece wrote on Twitter, “The family of @bellhooks is sad to announce the passing of our sister, aunt, great aunt, and great great aunt,”
The statement attached read, “The family of Gloria Jean Watkins is deeply saddened at the passing of our beloved sister on December 15, 2021. The family honoured her request to transition at home with family and friends by her side.”
bell hooks was born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1952. However, she adopted her great-grandmother’s name Bell Blair Hooks for her writing, deliberately styling it with lower case letters to focus attention on her message rather than herself. According to her, she wanted readers to focus on the “substance of books, not who I am”.
She wrote more than 30 books throughout her career, which covered subjects such as race, feminism, capitalism, and intersectionality.
During her life, bell hooks was also considered a trailblazer in the intersectional feminist movement.
bell hooks was the fourth of seven children.
Education
bell hooks attended segregated schools in Christian County before going on to Stanford University in California. She earned a master’s in English at the University of Wisconsin, and, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she studied literature and earned a doctorate in literature.
In 1981, bell hooks released her first book, Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism.
She was inducted into the Kentucky Writers’ Hall of Fame in 2018. At this event, she was quoted saying, “I want my work to be about healing. I am a fortunate writer because every day of my life practically I get a letter, a phone call from someone who tells me how my work has transformed their life.”
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Blessing Iyamadiken loves the art of storytelling and enjoys creating all types of content from news to entertainment. She is also a feminist and very passionate about Gender Equality. In her spare time, she loves to read or binge on Netflix.
