I had heard of bell hooks. I recognized her face in the photos circulating this past week, but I wouldn’t have been able to explain why she was so significant. That was all I knew—until now.

The feminist author, poet, and professor passed away on December 15, 2021, at the age of 69, due to end-stage renal failure in her Kentucky home. Born Gloria Jean Watkins, hooks adopted her pseudonym, “Bell Hooks,” in honor of her maternal great-grandmother, bell Blair Hooks. She famously styled her name in lowercase letters, not out of modesty, but to shift the focus onto her work rather than herself. With a body of work that is both vast and profound, this makes perfect sense.

Bell Hooks: An Advocate for Embracing Discomfort

A friend from the academic world wrote on Thursday, “She inspired me to help others transgress boundaries and get uncomfortable.” Persuading people to embrace discomfort is no easy feat, but from everything I’ve learned about hooks this week, it’s clear that the difficulty of a challenge never deterred her. She consistently did hard things, and she did them with conviction.

Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on September 25, 1952, hooks was one of seven children—just like me. She grew up in Appalachia, a region that shaped her identity and, later, her work. In 2004, she returned to her home state to teach at Berea College, where she became a Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Studies. Berea College is now home to the Bell Hooks Center, which promotes social justice leadership and celebrates diverse expressions of difference. That’s right, all of this is happening at Berea College.

A Return to Her Roots: Berea College

On countless drives from Indiana to southwest Virginia, I passed by Berea, never realizing the treasure hidden in that small town. I used to joke with my little brother about the town’s name—it rhymed with a specific digestive ailment that amused us as kids. Little did we know, Berea College is one of only nine federally recognized “work colleges” in the United States, where students must work a minimum of 10 hours a week as part of their education.

Bell Hooks had her pick of prestigious institutions. She earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford, a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, and a doctorate in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She taught at Stanford, Yale, and Oberlin before returning to Berea. Despite her extensive accomplishments, she chose Berea, a college that reflects her values of community, equality, and work ethic.

A Vision of Transformative Love

In a 2000 interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Hooks discussed her book, All About Love: New Visions. In it, she explored a broader, more encompassing love—one that goes beyond romance. “I’m talking about a transformative love that challenges us in our private and civic lives,” she said. This idea of love as a transformative force is a lesson I learned in graduate school and one that I now teach my students.

Hooks explained what she believes people want, which resonates deeply with me. “They want to feel more connected to their neighbors. They want to feel more connected to the world,” she explained. It’s a simple but profound truth I fully subscribe to.

A Lasting Impact on the World

The loss of bell hooks has been felt worldwide, from Vice President Kamala Harris to author Ibram X. Kendi and her frequent collaborator, Cornel West. Earlier this year, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, delivered her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at the presidential inauguration. Gorman, an admirer of Hooks, tweeted on Wednesday: “When I say rest in power, it’s with the knowledge of all the power she’s given to the rest of us.”

Discovering Bell Hooks

In the wake of her passing, I realized that Bell Hooks might be the most critical person I didn’t know enough about until this week. I’ve started reading her classic work, Ain’t I a Woman, and I can’t help but wish I had started sooner. Her influence is undeniable, and her writings offer the tools to navigate a complex world with love, courage, and intellectual rigor.

Bell Hooks was more than an author and educator; she was a guiding light for those who seek to create a more just, inclusive, and loving world. Her legacy will live on, not only through the nearly 40 books she published but also in the countless lives she touched and transformed.

Michael Leppert is an author, educator, and communication consultant based in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics, and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.