Accounts of political activism in African Caribbean and Asian communities often overlook the role of black women activists, contributing towards an image of passivity, apathy and exclusion. Through an empirical study of black women's organizations, this book interrogates contemporary theories of racism and racialization, political mobilization and feminism relating experiences of black women to wider issues of politics and difference, class and coalitions.

Other Kinds of Dreams questions the homogeneity of the term "black" and asks whether increasing social stratification within black communities undermines this unity. It also analyzes the relationship between black women's organizations, black men and white feminists within the context of coalition for social transformation.