During the time she was becoming a female writer there were not that many African American female writers. Hooks grew up in a time frame were women were facing racism and sexism. Times for her were not easy at all. She grew up in a household were her father policed her into gender roles, punished for refusal to follow gender norms, and her brother treating her the same way. Bell hooks has been verbally abused for her views but it has never stopped her on her path to be a resilient feminist icon.
Bell hooks throughout her activism has held a high stature being a female activist and educator during the Woman’s Rights Movement . In many of her poems and lectures, hooks has proposed various ideas of the definition of feminism, empowerment, and education for women. While she worked in the transitional state of woman’s rights, hooks voice pushed her ideas, made changes, and convincing arguments on gender roles. During the time of her activism, married women were earning money in business management or industries that were above men. Being married during that time, the women had to have a husband capable of supporting her. Women were starting to work beside men and moving up in businesses.