We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century [Paperback]

Dorothy Sterling (Editor), Mary Helen Washington (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 1997

"A remarkable documentary and the first in-depth record of many black women, slave and free."--Dorothy B. Porter, curator emeritus, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

We Are Your Sisters, a collection of letters, oral histories, and excerpts from diaries and autobiographies, is "a documentary portrayal of black women who lived between 1800 and the 1880s." As such, We Are Your Sisters provides a panoramic portrait of black women's lives, presenting the words of laundresses and maids, of writers and teachers. You'll find the testimonies of slave women, as collected in the 1920s and '30s by the Federal Writers Project, on such matters as work, courtship, and family life; letters from slave women that include moving appeals for husbands to save them from slave traders; and first-person accounts of women's resistance to slavery. There are also letters from women such as Rosetta Douglass Sprague, the daughter of Frederick Douglass; accounts of the doings of upper-class blacks in the years following the Civil War; and excerpts from the diary of Frances Rollin, author of a biography of black activist and Civil War soldier Martin Delany.

Review

“This richly researched, sensitively edited, annotated volume portrays indelibly, in their own words, the lives of American black women before, during, and immediately after the Civil War. . . . Added to the oral interviews collected by historians of the WPA Writers' Project in the 1930s are excerpts from contemporary diaries, letters, newspapers, memoirs and other sources. . . . A narrative symphonic in scope and inspiring in its revelations of the human ability to overcome. . . . Unforgettable reading.” (Publishers Weekly )

“Dorothy Sterling has for most of a rich lifetime been providing us with significant portions of black women's history. Now we have another treasure, the fruits of a sympathetic heart and an able mind.” (Florence Howe, The State University of New York at Old Westbury )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (July 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393316297
• ISBN-13: 978-0393316292
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #931,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suprised, Anger, Relief , Joy, November 27, 2003

By 

Elnna "A former fetus" (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century (Paperback)

This book is better than reality tv. It is a collection of real life accounts, diary entries, and pictures of black women in America during slavery and after emancipation.

It includes excerps from slaves, doctors, teachers, writers, womens rights and black activists, maids, cooks, laundresses, etc.

It gives a real life account of what was really going on in the 1800's in black america.

The book made me laugh, cry, get angry, etc., while reading it I went through a barrage of emotions.

Among its entertainment values, it is also very educational and informative. I had no idea that there were black female lawyers and Doctors in the 1840's in the US. Some of these people were the first female lawyers and Doctors in the US.

By and far it is good reading whether for fun or information.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, June 4, 2009

By 

Big Sistah Patty (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century (Paperback)

I became aware of this book by reading Beverly Jenkins' historical romance novels. They are excellent too. She always includes a list of the history books she used to write her story.