bell hooks Remembered After Death at 69

On December 15, author, activist, and professor bell hooks (née Gloria Jean Watkins) died at age 69, leaving behind a legacy of powerful words, critical thinking, and love.

“The family of Gloria Jean Watkins is deeply saddened at the passing of our beloved sister on December 15, 2021. The family honored her request to transition at home with family and friends by her side,” a statement penned by hooks’ family reads. The statement was shared publicly on Twitter by hooks’ niece Ebony Motley. According to the New York Times, hooks’ sister Gwenda Motley confirmed the cause of death was end-stage renal failure.

Born on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, hooks took on her pen name in 1978 when she published her first poetry collection, and there we wept. As the family shared in their statement, the moniker was a nod to her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. hooks’ pen name is intentionally stylized in all lower-case not only to differentiate her persona from her grandmother’s but also because she wanted the focus to be on the “substance of books, not who I am.” Her first book, Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism, was published in 1981.

With an oeuvre spanning more than 40 books, hooks is considered one of the leading voices in intersectional feminism. Her work also famously deals with topics such as romance, white supremacy, capitalism, politics, queerness, and gender roles — among others — with a special interest in the intersection of feminism, race, gender, and class. After news of hooks’ passing broke, many took to social media to share their condolences and highlight the importance of her work and the influence it had on them and society as a whole. 

“The passing of bell hooks hurts, deeply. At the same time, as a human being I feel so grateful she gave humanity so many gifts. AIN’T I A WOMAN: BLACK WOMEN AND FEMINISM is one of her many classics. And ALL ABOUT LOVE changed me. Thank you, bell hooks. Rest in our love,” Professor and author Ibram X. Kendi wrote on Twitter in tribute to hooks. “bell hooks broke and changed the way i thought over and over again. how lucky to have read her and seen her speak over the years. how lucky to have been alive at the same time,” writer Muna Mire also wrote after learning the news.

“bell hooks was an extraordinary writer, thinker, and scholar who gave us new language with which to make sense of the world around us. Her work was imbued with a deep commitment to truth-telling, but also with a profound sense of care and love for community. She was a treasure,” The Atlantic’s Clint Smith shared. “it is not hyperbole to say bell hooks saved me and so many of the women i’ve been blessed to move through this life alongside. what an incalculable loss, my goodness,” Hannah Giorgis, also from The Atlantic, echoed.

Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, also reacted to hooks’ death on Twitter. “Oh my heart. bell hooks. May she rest in power. Her loss is incalculable,” the author wrote.

“The entirety of my intellectual and creative project is this: ‘marginality [is] much more than a site of deprivation; in fact I was saying just the opposite, that it is also the site of radical possibility, a space of resistance.’ Indebted, as we all are to bell hooks,” author and sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote on Twitter. Author Saeed Jones also honored hooks, writing, “As a first generation college student, bell hooks was the first writer I encountered via academia whose work I was able to enthusiastically discuss with friends and fam *outside* academia. My mom and I read bell hooks together. I’ll always cherish the way her work bridged shores.”

NYU adjunct professor Jamila Aisha Brown took to Twitter to pay her tribute, reminiscing about an encounter with the famed author. “I met bell hooks in 2015 at the Martha’s Vineyard airport. She knew I knew who she was, but was too shy to say anything. She came up to me and said, ‘Everyone here is so rich. AND SKINNY!’ I burst out laughing. Rest in love.” 

“Black feminism is in mourning. Critical theory is in mourning. Philosophy is in mourning. Education is in mourning. All those who believe in a barrier-free society should be in mourning. May the ancestors welcome you in, bell hooks,” Winnie Bueno, a professor at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, wrote in Portuguese. 

“I am heartbroken. bell hooks’ words helped to make me the writer i am, taught me that there is no shame in centering love and tenderness, in approaching and embracing it. with ferocity. she is an everlasting force and blessing may she rest in perfect peace,” author Bolu Babalola shared. “bell hooks wrote directly for and to Black women, and it is a beautiful thing that everyone can learn from her, but her soul-filled love for us was so apparent in her work,” she later added. “wow. #restinpower bell hooks. She will forever be essential to Black feminist thought,” Raquel Willis noted.

“bell hooks wrote like she cared if you understood what she was talking about. THAT SHOULDNT BE RADICAL BUT IT F*CKING IS,” astrologer Alicia Lochard commented. “bell hooks’ body of work taught me that i can just write if I want to. she didn’t care about pleasing academia, she cared about her work being accessible and about thinking through all sides of an issue. she taught me that thinking is never in vain, and that writing is an action,” writer and researcher Nicole Froio shared.

British writer Candice Carty-Williams also shared some words about the author with The Guardian: “bell hooks was a writer whose scope of sensibilities taught me, nourished me, engaged me. But it was her writing on love that changed my life after a friend forced me to read All About Love, a book that I knew would contain so much power and truth that I was afraid of its contents. bell hooks will be missed, but the legacy she leaves behind is monumental and enduring, much like the ideals of love she put to the page.”

In their statement, hooks’ family shared they were “honored that Gloria received numerous awards, honors, and international fame for her works as [a] poet, author, feminist, professor, cultural critic, and social activist. We are proud to just call her sister, friend, confidant, and influencer.” The family also shared that contributions and memorials in hooks’ name can be made to the Christian County Literacy Council or the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville Christian County.

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