Mikki Kendall

Mikki Kendall is the author of Hood Feminism, and often illustrates her points using stories from her own life, briefly referring to her family and ancestors in the process. She was born in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and has served in the United States Army and worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Before Hood Feminism, Kendall published a graphic history book titled Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights as well as many newspaper articles and essays.

Mikki Kendall’s Grandmother

The author’s grandmother is mentioned throughout the book. She was born in 1924 and would not have thought of herself as a feminist, since she identified feminism with whiteness and did not regard white women as allies. She is strong, determined, and highly resilient. She taught the author her survival skills and inculcated in her the vital importance of education.

Mikki Kendall’s Grandfather

The author’s grandfather was born in 1919 and is described as traditionally masculine, protective, and patriarchal.

Mikki Kendall’s Uncle

The author’s uncle is portrayed as a violent, misogynist drunkard who threatened her with a gun at the age of eight.

Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham is a young white actress, writer, and director. Her attitude toward Black people, and her tendency to believe and identify with other white people, is regarded by the author as typical of privileged white Americans.

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw

Professor Crenshaw is a leading Black feminist academic and lawyer, who coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 and has been instrumental in the development of intersectional fourth-wave feminism.

Hugo Schwyzer

Dr. Schwyzer was a faculty member at Pasadena City College, where he taught history and gender studies. In 2013, he confessed on Twitter to a series of abusive relationships, including many with students, in which he had particularly targeted women of color.

Donald Trump

Former president Donald Trump is cited as an example of a man who has boasted about mistreating women but has suffered no public backlash, particularly from white women, a majority of whom voted for him in the 2016 presidential election.

Gail Simone

Gail Simone is a comic book writer whose work features a diverse range of strong female characters. She has used her power and privilege to help others, including the author.

Rekia Boyd

Rekia Boyd was a Black woman who was shot by an off-duty police officer in Chicago in 2012, at the age of twenty-two. The officer, Dante Servin, claimed that he believed Boyd was holding a gun, but the object was in fact a cell phone.

Robert Kelly

Robert Kelly, generally known as R. Kelly, is a successful singer-songwriter who is the subject of many sexual abuse allegations, including several involving underage girls.

Recy Taylor

Recy Taylor was a Black woman who was kidnapped and raped by six white men in Alabama in 1944. Her case was taken up by Rosa Parks and attracted widespread notice and outrage.

Daniel Holtzclaw

Daniel Holtzclaw is a former Oklahoma City police officer who is now in prison after being convicted on multiple charges of rape and sexual assault. All of his thirteen accusers were Black women. Many of Holtzclaw’s victims had criminal backgrounds, which he used to blackmail them.

Aurora Perrineau

Aurora Perrineau is an actress and model who made an allegation of rape against Murray Miller. The allegation was widely reported, but no charges were filed.

Murray Miller

Murray Miller is a television producer and writer who worked on Lena Dunham’s show, Girls. When he was accused of rape by Aurora Perrineau, Dunham supported Miller.

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