“I am the Black woman / I am a survivor,” is just one of the stanzas in feminist lesbian poet Pat Parker’s 1978 “Movement in Black” that refuse to let you go once you read them. Like a song, they reverberate through your mind, reminding you of the force of Black women’s stories and collective legacy. Originally published by Diana Press as the titular poem of a collection of Parker’s, the piece is part prayer, part praisesong, honoring Black women in spite of a world that’s historically tried to stifle their voices.

Before the age of #BlackGirlMagic and the #MeToo movement, Parker’s poetry uplifted the experiences of women often overlooked by the stanzas penned by popular poets. Through collections like Woman Slaughter and Jonestown & Other Madness, she unapologetically insisted on improving the wellbeing of Black women and women of color by exposing misogyny, homophobia, and white supremacy. An unsung hero of the Black Arts Movement and inspiration for Audre Lorde, her words are a salve for times like these.

Born in Houston, Texas in 1944, Parker—then known as Patricia Cooks—was the youngest child of working class parents. Life in Houston, which Parker often referred to later in life as “Texas hell,” wasn’t easy. In 1962, she finally left Texas after her uncle died while in police custody and a young boy in her community was murdered by a mob for being gay. She had just graduated high school, and headed to Los Angeles to study at community college.

Shortly after moving to the California, Parker married her first husband, the playwright and Black Panthers Minister of Culture at the time Ed Bullins. In 1964, the two moved to the Bay Area, but they eventually divorced due to Bullins becoming violent, according to Parker. After the split, Parker briefly married again, but ended it when she realized that the “idea of marriage… wasn’t working,” as she later wrote.

In the wake of her second divorce, Parker became radicalized. As an active member of the Black Panther Party, she immersed herself in socialist theory, communist discourse, and community organizing. And her political awakening coincided with the blossoming of her writing practice. By the latter late 60s, she was involved in the women’s rights, gay rights, and civil rights movements and openly living as a lesbian, crafting poems, and teaching creative writing workshops.