N°020_Vol.1_03

Introduction: Initiated in the 19 centuries, the struggle of women for their rights in America has progressively evolved. Started previously, according to Bell Hooks as “settings to uncover and openly revealed the depths of African-American women intimate wound” (2000: 8), it will later on be amended by encouraging the active participation of the latter. This revision can be interpreted as an expression of their exasperation regarding the injustices they are facing. The struggle of the women aims to overturn the patriarchal and “autocratic” social system. The aim of this work is to analyze African-American women’s contribution to the civil rights movement in the light of the women of Bailey’s Cafe experience and sort out the persistence of male domination despite this activism. Also, they amend their fighting strategies through the introduction of new approaches. Thus, previously limited to a passive observation of the unrest, African-American women’s activism will be reoriented by becoming really engaged. In view of these approaches, we set some questions while focusing on Naylor’s Novel: How do the women of Bailey’s Cafe implement their struggle? What are its impacts on their living conditions? Why does male domination still prevail despite those feminist actions? The driving forces behind this revolution were mostly female writers of the 1970s. They realized that there was a correlation between awareness and social transformation. Gloria Anzaldùa underlines this link through this statement: “Awareness of a situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society” (1987:37). From this excerpt, it appears that change involves several steps and can only happen through constant efforts. As a writer, Gloria Naylor attempts to address this African-American women’s activism by sketching out these new approaches introduced into it. She relates the activism of some African-American women such as Eve, Jesse Bell, Sadie, Mary, Sweet Esther and Miss Maple in her novel entitled Bailey’s Cafe (1992). Regarding the hypotheses, we can say that far from being a direct confrontation with the American authorities, the activism of the women of Bailey’s Cafe is undertaken indirectly while privileging adaptative strategies. In addition, socio-economic traditions continue to undermine the women of Bailey’s Cafe’s endeavor. Based on popular feminism, which explores the everyday lives of impoverished women, this paper focuses on two axes, namely the characteristics of the female characters’activism and the issues at stake.