Beyoncé is a black woman who is being heavily critiqued for actively addressing injustices against the black community in her music.
With the release of her latest single "Formation" and its "unapologetically black" video, along with her pro-black Super Bowl performance, Knowles has garnered both praise and criticism for her politics in recent weeks.
But her activism is nothing new—the 34-year-old singer has been slowly turning up the volume on her political stance over the years. Even Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson agreed that the singer is "more woke" than people give her credit for.
Beyoncé is a black woman who is being heavily critiqued for actively addressing injustices against the black community in her music.
With the release of her latest single "Formation" and its "unapologetically black" video, along with her pro-black Super Bowl performance, Knowles has garnered both praise and criticism for her politics in recent weeks.
But her activism is nothing new—the 34-year-old singer has been slowly turning up the volume on her political stance over the years. Even Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson agreed that the singer is "more woke" than people give her credit for.
From tackling gender inequality to addressing police brutality, here are six ways Beyoncé has openly demonstrated her feminist politics and lent her voice to the contemporary civil rights movement.
1. When she reminded men that she could upgrade them
When she was 25, Beyoncé released her second studio album B'Day, touting a pro-women message that would eventually blossom into her fully feminist brand throughout the 2000s.
In "Irreplaceable," she breaks up with a cheating man and flips the script by reminding him how phenomenal she is. With "Suga Mama," Bey challenges gender norms and becomes a financial domme, excited and ready to spoil her boo with her hard-earned cash.
But it's in "Upgrade U" that Beyoncé fully owns her independent-woman status, with lyrics like: "I hear you be the block, but I'm the light that keep the streets on."
She's the star of the show, and she lets men know that they'd be nothing without her.
In the second verse, Beyoncé's claim becomes even bolder, likening herself to America's most iconic Civil Rights leader: "I can do for you what Martin did for the people, ran by the men but the women keep the tempo."
2. When she was a superpower
When Beyoncé released her self-titled fifth studio album, she'd just entered her 30s. She was a new mother to her daughter Blue Ivy, and began overtly owning her feminist identity.
In spring 2013, months before her surprise digital album would be released, she graced the cover of Ms. Magazine—the same publication that helped instigate the third wave of feminism with a Rebecca Walker essay. Her cover story read: "Beyoncé's fierce feminism."
Beyoncé successfully dropped her self-titled album in an unprecedented manner, releasing it overnight with no prior promotion. The audio-visual album included 14 tracks and reached No. 1 on several international charts. The video for one of the album's tracks, "Superpower", included footage that paid tribute to the emerging Black Lives Matter movement. Beyoncé, accompanied by fellow Destiny's Child members and Pharrell Williams, marched with a crowd of people of color who faced the police together:
Beyoncé ain't playing #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/NOuPvxpex6
— Zoe (@YourFavoriteZoe) February 13, 2016
3. When she was a flawless feminist
If her Ms. Magazine cover and "Superpower" video didn't say it clearly enough, Queen Bey went on to proclaim herself a feminist in a way that left no room for misunderstanding.
While singing one of her No. 1 singles, "Flawless," Beyoncé stood in front of a giant florescent sign that flashed the word "FEMINIST." The song featured a famous feminist TED talk from Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie titled, "We Should All Be Feminists," and made Beyoncé's position crystal clear.
You can watch the performance in its entirety, below:
4. When she dropped a racial justice documentary
In 2015, Beyoncé took her political allegiance a step further with the release of a short documentary about racial injustice against black men in America. After her performance of "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at the Grammy's created a huge buzz on Twitter, Knowles released the doc titled,Take My Hand, Precious Lord: The Voices, which featured interviews of her back-up singers discussing Ferguson, Eric Garner, and what it's like to be black in the U.S.
The black-and-white video was released on the singer's YouTube channel and website.
5. When she posted bail for Black Lives Matter protesters
Beyoncé's support of the contemporary civil rights movement goes beyond her music. She and her husband Jay Z have also donated thousands of dollars to post bail for several Black Lives Matter activists who were arrested during protests against police brutality.
Dream hampton, who helped Jay Z pen his book Decoded, wrote a series of tweets (which have since been deleted) confirming that the rapper "wired tens of thousands in mins" when asked for help to bail out Baltimore protesters. Hampton also tweeted that the best part of it was that the couple insisted people stay quiet about their contributions.
"I can say I've personally helped facilitate donations they've given to protesters directly and that they never ask for anything in return, especially publicity," hampton later told the New York Daily News in an email.
It was recently revealed that Mr. and Mrs. Carter donated a whopping $1.5 million to several civil rights groups on the fourth anniversary of Trayvon Martin's death. Through their co-owned music streaming company Tidal, the pair have also donated to Black Lives Matter, Hands Up United, and Dream Defenders.
6. When she got in formation
After nearly one year off the music charts, Beyoncé surprised the world again with "Formation."
The video includes footage of the singer on top of a New Orleans police car being submerged in water, graffiti that reads "Stop shooting us," and a young black boy in a hoodie dancing in front of a row of police in riot gear. The lyrics are as bold as the imagery: "I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros, I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils."
Bey has evolved as a true intersectional activist over the past decade, from brief mentions of iconic civil rights names to powerful, unapologetically black performances in front of international audiences. The pop star has made one thing clear—she "did not come to play with you hoes"—and will continue to fight for women's and blacks' rights alike.