activist

Acclaimed Author and Activist bell hooks Dies at 69

Her work includes some 40 books, many of which focused on topics of feminism and race

Author and cultural critic bell hooks
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Acclaimed author and activist bell hooks died on Wednesday. She was 69.

Hooks, whose real name is Gloria Jean Watkins, was born on Sept. 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Her first published work, a book of poems titled "And There We Wept," was released in 1978. She went on to publish her first book "Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism" in 1981.

Berea College in Kentucky, where hooks worked as a professor, said she died following an undisclosed illness.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

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