Customer Reviews

The Black Woman: An Anthology

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Until it went out of print, I assigned this book for years in my college course on the civil rights movement. Even though many new books on women in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements are now available, Cade's anthology is an excellent collection of contemporary documents covering issues such as the sexism of welfare, the role of women in the Revolution, and abortion and reproductive rights. Although some of the materials may seem "dated" to younger readers, these are authentic "back in the day" voices of Black women who were in the middle of the feminist and Black Power movements.

I haven't finished this book but so far it is for surely a keeper the stories in here are just amazing, and to think the voices comes from northern writers, southern writers simply beautiful and strong and passionate awesome!!!

Toni Cade Bambara (1939-1995) was an American author, social activist, and college professor.

She writes in the Preface to this 1970 volume, "This then is a beginning---a collection of poems, stories, essays, formal, informal, reminiscent, that seem best to reflect the preoccupations of the contemporary Black woman in this country. Some items were written especially for the collection. Some were discovered tucked away in notebooks. Many of the contributors are professional writers. Some have never before put pen to paper with publication in mind. Some are mothers. Others are students. Some are both. All are alive, are Black, are women. And that, I think, is credentials enough to address themselves to issues that seem to be relevant to the sisterhood."

Contributors include Nikki Giovanni; Audre Lorde; Alice Walker; Toni Cade herself, and many others. Topics include "Motherhood"; "Dear Black Man"; "Who Will Revere the Black Woman?"; "Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female"; "Is the Black Male Castrated?"; "The Black Social Workers' Dilemma"; "The Black Revolution in America," and more.

There is now an updated version of this book (The Black Woman: An Anthology.