"From virtual invisibility, the astonishing record of African-American women in Texas emerges with powerful definition in Ruthe Winegarten's Black Texas Women.... Texas as myth and story too often has remained the province of men and mainstream scholarship. Winegarten's focus on African-American women helps enlarge the view of what it means to be 'Texan' by noting the formidable achievement of some of the state's unsung heroines."
—Legacies
"Buy Black Texas Women and put it on a shelf your youngest child can reach."
—Texas Observer
"...a valuable and moving account of the extraordinary accomplishments of black Texas women."
—Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, author of Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South
"Black Texas Women: 150 Years of Trial and Triumph by Ruthe Winegarten is a wonderful tribute to black Texas women. African-American women have often struggled on two fronts, battling both sexism and racism. We can all gain inspiration from these women, from the Yellow Rose of Texas, Emily Morgan, the heroine of the Texas Revolution, to Dr. Connie Yerwood Conner, the first black physician on the staff of the Texas Department of Health. My own inspirations come from civil rights activist Juanita Craft, the legendary Barbara Jordan, and the indomitable Wilhelmina Delco. These women were and are pioneers in their own communities and also great Texans. They make us all proud."
—Ann W. Richards, Governor of Texas
"Black Texas Women is an admirable achievement. Ruthe Winegarten has produced an innovative state study of Black women that will surprise students, scholars, and general readers. This unique book, with its lively writing, numerous documents and photographs, enriches and complicates African American and women's history by connecting threads of race, gender, class, and region."
—Darlene Clark Hine, John A. Hannah Professor of History, Michigan State University
Women of all colors have shaped families, communities, institutions, and societies throughout history, but only in recent decades have their contributions been widely recognized, described, and celebrated. This book presents the first comprehensive history of black Texas women, a previously neglected group whose 150 years of continued struggle and some successes against the oppression of racism and sexism deserve to be better known and understood.
Beginning with slave and free women of color during the Texas colonial period and concluding with contemporary women who serve in the Texas legislature and the United States Congress, Ruthe Winegarten organizes her history both chronologically and topically. Her narrative sparkles with the life stories of individual women and their contributions to the work force, education, religion, the club movement, community building, politics, civil rights, and culture. The product of extensive archival and oral research and illustrated with over 200 photographs, this groundbreaking work will be equally appealing to general readers and to scholars of women's history, black history, American studies, and Texas history.
