Originally published in 1978, Black Macho caused a storm of controversy as Michele Wallace blasted the masculine biases of the black politics that emerged from the sixties. She described how women remained marginalized by the patriarchal culture of Black Power and the ways in which a genuine female subjectivity was blocked by the traditional myths of black womanhood. With a new introduction that examines the debate the book has sparked between intellectuals and political leaders, as well as what has - and crucially, has not - changed over the last four decades, Black Macho continues to be deeply relevant to current feminist debates and black theory today.