When M. Shadee Malaklou was hired as the new chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies department at Berea College in Kentucky, she never expected her first lunch with bell hooks to start with, “‘I was against your hire.'” With her trademark honesty and wit, hooks offered the comment with a nod and a wink. Rather than being shocked, Malaklou embraced this irreverence, recognizing it as part of Hooks’ candid personality—a quality in her writing and interactions.

A Bond Beyond Academia

Although Hooks initially assumed Malaklou, a woman of Iranian descent from Southern California, wouldn’t feel at home in Berea’s small-town atmosphere, time proved her wrong. Three years later, hooks wrote a glowing commendation for Malaklou’s tenure. Now, as the inaugural director of the recently opened Bell Hooks Center at Berea College, Malaklou reflects on her close friendship with Hooks. While many celebrated Hooks as a public figure and academic giant, Malaklou had the privilege of knowing her on a more personal level.

The Private Side of Bell Hooks

Over the last three years of her life, Bell Hooks and Malaklou became confidants. Their relationship extended beyond professional boundaries, with Hooks occasionally calling Malaklou in the middle of class to share McDonald’s cheeseburgers. Hooks also had a well-known obsession with Juicy Fruit gum, often asking Malaklou to order it in bulk from Amazon.

The Public Figure and Her Work

While these personal quirks humanized her, the world remembers bell hooks through her influential works like Feminism is For Everybody, Teaching to Transgress, and All About Love: New Visions. The latter, published in 2000, resurfaced as a New York Times bestseller during the pandemic. Her writing is profoundly accessible and draws from personal experiences to speak on spirituality, family, and justice, reaching readers far beyond the academic sphere.

From Gloria Watkins to Bell Hooks

Before she became the renowned bell hooks, she was Gloria Watkins, a young scholar teaching at Yale University in the 1980s. Rachel Chapman, now a tenured professor of anthropology at the University of Washington, recalls being an undergraduate with Hooks as her thesis advisor. Her classes were highly sought after, and Hooks led a support group for Black women called “Sisters of the Yam.”

Exploring Pain and Radical Action

Chapman reflects on Hooks’ early work, which delved into the pain and loss of Black life. “She was writing about what it means to be young, Black, and angry, and the thin line between being mad and madness, between radical action and personal self-destruction,” Chapman recalls. This theme of confronting personal pain while pursuing justice would later crystallize in Hooks’ seminal work, All About Love.

Reflections on Social Justice

Chapman recalls a pivotal moment during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, sparked by the police beating of Rodney King. At UCLA, hooks addressed a group of beleaguered student activists, offering advice that stayed with Chapman for years. Hooks said, “I don’t do social justice work with anyone who’s not in a movement with me for a lifetime. That reduces the number of people I’m willing to interact with on that level.”

Empowering Others to Protect Their Energy

This advice permitted Chapman to disengage from individuals who perpetuated racism or hostility. “I now do whatever gives me strength and move on,” she notes, a testament to the lasting impact of Hooks’ wisdom.

Revolutionizing Education

Hooks’ influence extended far beyond social justice activism. Jody Greene, founder of the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning at the University of California, Santa Cruz, praises Hooks’ books on the practice of teaching. “Hooks believed that education wasn’t just about creating good employees, but about cultivating full human beings,” Greene explains. This philosophy has deeply influenced educators who see teaching as a transformative, humanizing experience.

Growth and Learning in the Final Years

Even in the final decade of her life, Hooks wasn’t content to rest on her laurels. She continued to evolve, engage, and learn from others. Shelby Chestnut, the director of policy and programs at the Transgender Law Center, recalls introducing Hooks to Laverne Cox during a conversation at the New School in 2014. “Hold my hand,” Hooks said to Chestnut, initiating an intimate moment as they strolled through the West Village with Cox, hand in hand.

Broadening Feminism’s Scope

Hooks worked tirelessly to understand and include the trans community in her evolving definition of feminism, even when doing so wasn’t widely popular. Her foundational texts, like Ain’t I a Woman, critiqued white feminism and pushed for an intersectional approach long before Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term. “She was unapologetic in prioritizing Black women but extended her empathy to all marginalized groups,” Chestnut explains.

Representation for Children and the Next Generation

Bell Hooks wasn’t just a scholar for adults; she cared deeply about children’s representation, especially for Black boys. Linda Strong-Leek, former professor at Berea College and now provost at Haverford College, recalls Hooks’ concern over the lack of books featuring Black boys reading. Hooks addressed this gap with children’s books like Be Boy Buzz, designed to inspire literacy and confidence in children of color.

Appalachian Roots and a Commitment to Community

Despite her global influence, Bell Hooks identified deeply with her Appalachian roots. In her book On Belonging: A Culture of Place, she wrote not as an abstract theorist but as someone grounded in the rural Kentucky geography of her upbringing. Her friends recall that her love for the local community was as much political as it was personal.

A Scholar Who Loved “Regular People”

Linda Strong-Leek reflects on Hooks’ unassuming presence in Berea, where many residents were unaware of her global stature if they weren’t connected to the college. “I want people to remember that she loved regular people,” Strong-Leek says. Hooks’ dedication to the people around her was perhaps one of her greatest yet least acknowledged qualities.