Skin Deep: Black Women & White Women Write About Race [Paperback]

Marita Golden (Author), Susan Shreve (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0385474105 | ISBN-13: 978-0385474108 | Publication Date: July 1, 1996

Candid, poignant, provocative, and informative, the essays and stories in Skin Deep explore a wide spectrum of racial issues between black and white women, from self-identity and competition to childrearing and friendship. Eudora Welty contributes a bittersweet story of a one-hundred-year-old black woman whose spirit is as determined and strong as anything in nature. Bestselling author Naomi Wolf recalls her first exposure to racism growing up, examining the subtle forms it can take even among well-meaning people; bell hooks writes about the intersection between black women and feminist politics; and Joyce Carol Oates includes a one-act play in which racial stereotypes are reversed. Among the other writers featured in the collection are Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Susan Straight, Mary Morris, and Beverly Lowry. A groundbreaking anthology that reveals surprising insights and hidden truths to a subject too often clouded by misperceptions and easy assumptions,  Skin Deep is a major contribution to understanding our culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Featuring writers ranging from Joyce Carol Oates to Alice Walker, this collection draws on both fiction and nonfiction to explore racial issues between black and white women.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Girlfriend, you don't want to miss the pungent, probing questions and answers in this fascinating, timely volume. Four of Skin Deep's 20 pieces have previously appeared elsewhere: Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path," Alice Walker's "The Revenge of Hannah Kemhuff," Toni Morrison's "Recitatif," and Joyce Carol Oates' "Negative." Like these more famous writers, the authors of the collection's new material--Lisa Page, Naomi Wolff, Retha Powers, Beverly Lowry, Patricia Browning Griffith, Mary Morris, Jewelle Gomez, Ann Filemyr, Susan Straight, Catherine Clinton, Dorothy Gilliam, bell hooks, social workers Cathleen Gray and Shirley Bryant, and both editors--are brave, disconcerting, moving, funny, and challenging as they struggle to gaze squarely at the ways American women have penetrated--and failed to penetrate--the multifarious barriers of race. This is scary territory: a landscape littered with betrayals and failures of understanding, but illuminated by precious victories and by the editors' hope that we can "both see and see beyond race," that if we "address our differences . . . [now], the issue of race in our children's generation will be, in fact, skin deep." Mary Carroll --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385474105
• ISBN-13: 978-0385474108
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I think I came into the world called to write. I have been a passionate reader and writer since I was a child. Books and language have provided me with a way to live in the world with an enlarged sense of my possibilities. Writing has thrust my personal questions and inner dialogues into the public space. In the process I have inspired others and learned from them through my work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Is There Only One Review of This Book?, June 26, 2002

By 

Carmen Matthews "The Serene Samurai" (San Diego, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skin Deep: Black Women & White Women Write About Race (Hardcover)

In the very public work that I do, I too often hear, as I just heard yesterday, well-meaning white people say, "The way to take care of diversity is to never mention it again."

And it is this kind of message that reminds me that we have a ways to go in race relations.

This book is a collection of stories from famous women, both white and black, about their experiences with race.

While every chapter had me deeply moved, I must say that the chapter titled, "Contents Under Pressure: White Woman/Black History," by Catherine Clinton, was the most moving.

This is a story about a white woman who teaches African-American History.

This is, a reverse discrimination story that has value for everyone to read. By her name, and her profession, she is assumed to be African-American. But she is Caucasian.

Her published work has led to many invitations to speak on race relations.

But, when they meet her, in person, and see that she is not African-American, things change.

And she had to put in a tremendous amount of time, to show that she is here to stay, despite the resistence of others.

In the end, this professor taught her students that the thickness of your skin, and not its color is a useful measure for success.

This is a professor whose mission lives on through her students.

I invite everyone male or female, of all races to read this book, as you think of yourself as a fly on the wall.

You will grow, beyond your wildest dreams.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perspective on race, December 18, 1997

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skin Deep: Black Women & White Women Write About Race (Paperback)

As we begin to approach the next century, race is still an important issue that should not be ignored or denied. As we live in a multiracial society, it is important to take time out and listen to ourselves and others. This is a provocative book that should be read by all women who take the time to intellectually consider themselves and their role as women and mothers, sisters, neigbors, and lovers. How will we teach our children and eachother to consider race? These essays bring forth some harsh realizations of the boundaries that truly separate black and white women and what must be overcome if we truly want to unite. It is a good dose of reality that many of us would benefit from not only reading, but thinking about and discussing. The truth is awfully hard to swallow.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tell It Like It Is..........., January 19, 2005

By 

Julia Mallory "progressive thinker" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skin Deep: Black Women & White Women Write About Race (Paperback)

This book is the product of what happens when we can tell the truth. It was a real eye-opener and consoling in one. It let you know that you are not alone in the battle of dealing with race everyday. In some way or another every story will speak to you. Every author's attempt to define their truth will help you to better understand your own reality. Great book even if you may not agree with every point of view contained within it's pages, you'll appreciate the effort to convey the story, to say the least!