Includes bibliographical references.

Artwork -- Catching fire: preface to the Fourth Edition / Cherríe Moraga. Acts of healing / Gloria Anzaldúa and The Gloria E. Anzaldúa Literary Trust. Foreword to the First Edition, 1981 / Toni Cade Bambara. The bridge poem / Kate Rushin -- La jornada: preface, 1981 / Cherríe Moraga. Introduction, 1981 / Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa -- Pt. 1. Children Passing in the Streets: The Roots of Our Radicalism -- When I was growing up / Nellie Wong. On not bein / Mary Hope Whitehead Lee -- For the color of my mother / Cherríe Moraga -- I am what I am / Rosario Morales -- Dreams of violence / Naomi Littlebear Morena -- He saw / Chrystos -- Pt. 2. Entering the Lives of Others: Theory in the Flesh -- Wonder woman / Genny Lim -- La güera / Cherríe Moraga. Invisibility is an unnatural disaster: reflections of an Asian American woman / Mitsuye Yamada -- It's in my blood, my face-my mother's voice, the way I sweat / Anita Valerio -- "Gee you don't seem like an Indian from the reservation" / Barbara Cameron -- "...And even Fidel can't change that!" / Aurora Levins Morales -- I walk in the history of my people / Chrystos -- Pt. 3.
And When You Leave, Take Your Pictures With You: Racism in the Women's Movement -- And when you leave, take your pictures with you / Jo Carillo -- Beyond the cliffs of Abiquiu / Jo Carillo -- I don't understand those who have turned away from me / Chrystos -- Asian Pacific women and feminism / Mitsuye Yamada -- "But I know you, American woman" / Judit Moschkovich -- The Black back-ups / Kate Rushin -- The pathology of racism: a conversation with third world wimmin / Doris Davenport -- We're all in the same boat / Rosario Morales -- An open letter to Mary Daly / Audre Lorde -- The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house / Audre Lorde -- Pt. 4. Between the Lines: On Culture, Class, and Homophobia -- The other heritage / Rosario Morales -- The tired poem: last letter from a typical (unemployed) Black professional woman / Kate Rushin -- To be continued ... / Kate Rushin -- Across the kitchen table: a sister-to-sister dialogue / Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith -- Lesbianism: an act of resistance / Cheryl Clarke -- Lowriding through the women's movement / Barbara Noda -- Letter to ma / Merle Woo -- I come with no illusions / Mirtha N. Quintanales. I paid very hard for my immigrant ignorance / Mirtha N. Quintanales -- Earth-lover, survivor, musician / Naomi Littlebear Morena -- Pt. 5. Speaking in Tongues: The Third World Woman Writer -- Speaking in tongues: a letter to third world women writers / Gloria Anzaldúa. Millicent Fredericks / Gabrielle Daniels -- In Search of the self as hero: confetti of voices on New Year's night, a letter to myself / Nellie Wong -- Chicana's feminist literature: a re-vision through Malintzin/or Malintzin putting flesh back on the object / Norma Alarcón -- Ceremony for completing a poetry reading / Chrystos -- Pt. 6. El Mundo Zurdo: The Vision -- Give me back / Chrystos -- La prieta / Gloria Anzaldúa A Black feminist statement / Combahee River Collective The welder / Cherríe Moraga O.K. momma, who the hell am I? an interview with Luisah Teish / Gloria Anzaldúa -- Brownness / Andrea Canaan -- Revolution: it's not neat or pretty or quick / Pat Parker -- No rock scorns me as whore / Chrystos -- Appendix. Afterword: On the Fourth Edition / Cherríe Moraga -- Foreword to the Second Edition, 1983 / Gloria Anzaldúa -- Refugees of a world on fire: Foreword to the Second Edition, 1983 / Cherríe Moraga -- Counsels from the firing ... past, present, future: Foreword to the Third Edition, 2001 / Gloria Anzaldúa.

Originally released in 1981, This Bridge Called My Back is a testimony to women of color feminism as it emerged in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as coeditor Cherríe Moraga writes, "the complex confluence of identities—race, class, gender, and sexuality—systemic to women of color oppression and liberation."

Reissued here, nearly thirty-five years after its inception, the fourth edition contains an extensive new introduction by Moraga, along with a previously unpublished statement by Gloria Anzaldúa. The new edition also includes visual artists whose work was produced during the same period as Bridge, including Betye Saar, Ana Mendieta, and Yolanda López, as well as current contributor biographies. Bridge continues to reflect an evolving definition of feminism, one that can effectively adapt to, and help inform an understanding of the changing economic and social conditions of women of color in the United States and throughout the world.