Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker. Womanist and feminist theories meet in the garden: The perspective of difference

The fine lines between feminism and womanism have confounded me because they seem parallel at various points, but are distinctly different. White feminists, although intending to liberate women, sub-consciously, and maybe intentionally, excluded the concerns of women of color. Just as history painted a picture of America as a land fertile and ripe for diversity while simultaneously misconstruing the opportunities for African Americans and other persons of color, feminism appeared to do the same in my eyes. I was hesitant about self-proclaiming myself as a feminist, for what I had learned and understood about feminism was patriarchy in a dress. I was not in agreement with the image nor the theory I had learned. Therefore, I sought out another way to define myself as a woman of color who could not tolerate the macho supremacist attitude I witnessed in some men, and in some women. I discovered womanism and identified the following coinage by Alice Walker, in particular the following, "Womanist is to feminist as purple to lavender" (In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens ii). Walker's other definitions of "womanist" created some sense of understanding. I questioned whether womanism was just as exclusionary as feminism. I came to understand that both theories are important; however, womanism is born from feminism. These questions urged me to look at the works Walker and Hurston as noted womanists. I felt assured the women within the pages of the authors' works would spring forth with answers and provide a place of clarity for me.