Famous Black Men Who Are Feminists

When you think of feminism, naturally women come to mind, but luckily there are also a lot of men out there who support us in this important cause –and some of them just so happen to be celebrities.

Like with any cause, it’s always good to have allies and we’re happy to call these men such in the fight for equal pay, equal rights, and a host of other gender inequalities we’re committed to setting straight. Check out this list to see which Black male celebrities have gone on record about their undying support for women.

Will Smith

Will Smith is very public about he and his wife Jada’s decision to let his kids embrace their own individuality. While giving an interview to Parade in 2012, he discussed how his daughter Willow shaped his view of feminism.

“Jada and I let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it’s like how can you teach her that you’re in control of her body? If I teach her that I’m in charge whether or not she can touch her hair, she’s going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world.

“She can’t cut my hair, but that’s her hair. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she’s going out with a command that is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives.”

Source: Via Parade

John Legend

When you have a wife who is as outspoken and fiercely feminist as Chrissy Teigen, some of her views were bound to rub off on her husband John Legend.

During a 2013 press conference, he firmly stated his approach to feminism as a man. “All men should be feminists. If men care about women’s rights, the world will be a better place. We are better off when women are empowered — it leads to a better society.”

Source: Via The Telegraph U.K.

Barack Obama

Our former POTUS (who we ALL wish we could have back) is notable and amazing for many things he’s done in and out of office, but the love and respect he consistently shows for women is arguably one of his best.

In an essay he wrote for Glamour specifically about feminism and what the concept means to him, he was very candid about how he and Michelle were raising their daughters.

“Michelle and I have raised our daughters to speak up when they see a double standard of feel unfairly judged based on their gender or race — or when they notice that happening to someone else. It’s important for them to see role models out in the world who climb to the highest levels of whatever field they choose. And yes, it’s important that their dad is a feminist, because no that’s what they expect of all men.”

Source: Via Glamour

Blair Underwood

Back in 1992 when celebrity men (especially black men) who openly supported feminism was all but a foreign concept, actor Blair Underwood stood up and voiced his support about women’s right to do what they choose with their bodies.

In an interview at the ’92 March for Women’s Rights, he explained why he is pro-choice:

“Basically it boils down to the government or legislative body telling me what I can and cannot do in planning my own family. So, if you are going to tell a woman what to do, that woman may be my wife, that woman may be my girlfriend. That doesn’t sit well with me to tell them and to tell me what I can’t do with my family. So, in a nutshell, that’s basically why I’m here, and that’s why it’s important for most of us men to be here. Because, you can’t live in this world, obviously, without coming into contact with women. I mean, a woman is my mother, gave me life, gave me sisters. I have a girlfriend I love dearly. All of that comes into play. It’s not about abortion being right or wrong. It’s about having that choice to decide what a person should do with their own body.”

Source: Via Huffington Post

Forest Whitaker

As an avid supporter of HeForShe, which is a solidarity campaign for the advancement of gender equality, Forest Whitaker has long understood the importance of being a man who supports women’s rights.

During a panel discussion for his Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, which is all about aiming for peace throughout the world, he stated that equality of the sexes is one way to achieve it.

“You can’t really find peace in the world when fifty percent of the world is excluded from the conversation.”

Sources: Via Global Citizen and Newsweek

Sterling K. Brown

At the 2018 Golden Globes ceremony, Hollywood collectively showed up to support the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in wake of the Weinstein sex scandal.

Actor Sterling K. Brown showed up to the awards show in matching tuxedos and when he was asked why his wife, Ryan was wearing a suit, he openly stated it was due to her position in the Brown household. “She wears the pants in our family, so it’s only apropos that she wears the pants this evening.”

Source: Via Entertainment Tonight

Harry Belafonte

The iconic Harry Belafonte has used his celebrity to advocate for civil rights and women’s rights since way back in the 1950s, when oppression was at an all time high. H e has always been a man of the people and stood up for causes that others were afraid to for fear they would lose their careers.

As a co-chair of the Women’s March in 2017, Belafonte voiced his firm support of women’s rights and his hope to end oppression against them forever. “Let us use this century to be the century when we said we started the mission to end the violence and oppression of women. Let us never, ever let our children become the abusers to our women that we permitted in our lifetime.”

Source: Via The Root

Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams proves that you don’t necessarily need to say you’re a feminist as a man in order to show support for women and their rights. While being interviewed on a U.K. TV show in 2014, he explained his relationship with feminism.

“I’m a man. It makes sense [for me to be a feminist] up until a certain point. But what I do is, I do support feminists. “I would love to see a woman run the country. Historically, this world has been run by man. And what would a world be like if 75 percent our world leaders, our presidents and prime ministers, were female? What would that world be like? We don’t know, because we haven’t given it a shot. We’re too busy telling them what they can and can’t do with their bodies. Or, we’re too busy, you know, not allowing them to make the same amount of money that a man makes.”

Source: Via MTV

Terry Crews

As one of the male celebrities openly support the #MeToo movement, actor Terry Crews also revealed that he was one of its victims as well, when he told the world that he was also a victim of sexual assault in Hollywood.

When he initially told his story about his experience, he stated how upset he was to see women’s claims being dismissed. “I just keep hearing…’Oh Boy, these women, here they come, they just want attention and a payday,’ And I got really angry. I got really angry because I said, ‘They’re being dismissed like this stuff [isn’t] happening, it happens, it happened to me.'”

Source: Via Alloy

Donald Glover

If you’re familiar with Donald Glover’s work, particularly his early stand-up routines, the you should know that he has always challenged masculinity and what society deems as acceptable for men and women…including all the double standards.

In one of his old stand-up performances, he talks about the often-used stereotype of women as the “crazy ex-girlfriend” and how men as “crazy ex-boyfriends” are more dangerous and violent than women could ever be, but portraying women as unstable is what society has led us to believe.

Source: Via Alloy