*Her real name was Gloria Jean Watkins, but the acclaimed author/feminist/activist was known to the world as bell hooks. She died at her home Berea, Kentucky on Wednesday at 69.
hooks was born on Sept. 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Her first published work, a book of poems titled “And There We Wept,” was released in 1978. She went on to publish her first book “Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism” in 1981.
The cause of death was end-stage renal failure, her sister Gwenda Motely said, according to published reports.
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At the time of her death, hooks was a professor at Berea College.
“bell came into the life of many Bereans in 2004 to help the College get closer to its Great Commitments, particularly the Fifth Great Commitment focused on the kinship of all people and interracial education; the Sixth Great Commitment dedicated to gender equality; and the Eighth Great Commitment centered on service to Appalachia,” the school wrote in a statement.
“In 2017, bell dedicated her papers to Berea College, ensuring that future generations of Bereans will know her work and the impact she had on the intersections of race, gender, place, class and sexuality.”
If you’re wondering why she spelled her in all lower case (bell hooks), she reasoned it was “to distinguish [herself from] her great-grandmother.” She said that her unconventional lowercasing of her name signifies that what is most important to focus upon is her works, not her personal qualities: the “substance of books, not who I am.”
On Instagram, writer/author/activist Kevin Powell, wrote an emotional tribute to his friend and mentor.
“I am profoundly saddened by the death of bell hooks, my mentor, friend, sister, one of our greatest writers and thinkers… I cried sitting there with her as she slept, thinking of our 27-year history, of the man I am now because of her. Like others who visited privately in bell’s final days, I held her hands, I touched her knees, I rubbed her feet, as she laid in a hospital bed in her living room. I told bell over and over again how much I loved her, I told her over and over again, THANK YOU.”
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For MORE on bell hooks visit her Wikipedia page.
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