Influential Kentucky author, feminist and activist bell hooks, died Wednesday morning at her home in Berea.
Gloria Jean Watkins was born in Hopkinsville Kentucky in 1952. She used the pen name bell hooks in honor of her great -grandmother, intentionally using lower case letters to focus on the substance of her writing rather than her personality.
As a ground breaking feminist, she was known for her work on race, class, and gender.
Dr. Kaila Adia Story, associate professor in women’s gender and sexuality studies at the University of Louisville calls hooks death a huge and devasting loss.
“ Not only to her family ,friends and loved ones, but also to all of the scholars and activists who used her work, as a point of recovery, as a point of resistance, just as a point of empowerment ,”said Story.
The award-winning author published more than 30 book including , ”Ain’t I a Woman”, “Bone Black” and “All About Love.”
Her niece Ebony Motley said her aunt was a role model.
“My aunt was unapologetically herself. That’s what I admired most about her. She was different. She went against the grain and she was unapologetic because she knew who she was,” said Motley.
Hooks taught at institutions like Yale University and Oberlin College. In 2004 she joined the faculty at Berea College where she established the bell hooks institute.
Niece Ebony Motley says bell hooks died peacefully surrounded by family and friends . She was 69.
