Bell hooks, also known as Gloria Jean Watkins, was born September 25, 1952, to a homemaker and a custodian. Hooks was born in segregated Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and for a time, was educated in legally segregated public schools. She acquired her picturesque pen name from her maternal great-grandmother, whose name is Bell Blair Hooks. In 1973, she received her BA in English from Stanford University, and three years later obtained her MA in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hooks is a professor, social activist, cultural critic, feminist and author of over 30 books, including Ain't I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism, Black Looks: Race and Representation, Reel to Real, and All About Love: New Visions. In 2014, the bell hooks Institute was founded at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky.