Nominated for the 1995 Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology A provocative, insightful volume, Black Women in America offers an interdisciplinary study of black women′s historic activism, representation in literature and popular media, self-constructed images, and current psychosocial challenges. This new work by outstanding scholars in the field of race and gender studies explores the ways in which black women have constantly reconstructed and transformed alien definitions of black womanhood. Black women have an image of themselves that differs from those others impose. Collectively, the contributors to this anthology demonstrate that such socially constructed images hide the complexities and ambiguities, the challenges, and the joys experienced in the real lives of black women. Multifaceted in its approach, Black Women in America is certain to stimulate debate, stretch minds, and spark future research. Black Women in America is a welcome resource for scholars and students in African American or Ethnic Studies, Women′s Studies, Sociology, and Psychology. ’The volume can be helpful in stimulating questions and discussion for students in African American studies.’ –Choice ’Black Women in America combines social history with contemporary analysis in one of the most thoughtful of scholarly compendia I have ever seen. It will be useful to scholars who teach history, sociology, African American studies, and women′s studies, but also to any American interested in a deeper and broader understanding of America′s past, present, and future.’ –Sarah Susannah Willie, Colby College, Maine ’At a time when several anthologies of essays by and about black women are hitting the shelves, Kim Marie Vaz′s volume boasts an unusual and inventive mix of topics. It treats a range of historical eras and geographical locations. . . . The apt emphasis on resistance rather than victimization is apparent throughout the essays I read; it provides an excellent focal point. . . . In all, Vaz′s editorial contribution is admirable. She has collected an impressively wide-ranging group of essays on the history, sociology, and culture of black women. Interdisciplinary in its approach and sound in its scholarship, the volume will be welcomed by scholars and students in African American studies and women′s studies in particular, but also history, sociology, and political science.’ –Cheryl Ann Wall, Rutgers University
Innehållsförteckning
Introduction – Kim Marie Vaz
Black Women′s Lives and Cultural Contexts
PART ONE: IN OPPOSITION: BLACK WOMEN′S SOCIAL HISTORY THROUGH THE LENS OF THEIR ACTIVISM
African Women′s Legacy – Barbara A Moss
Ambiguity, Autonomy, and Empowerment
Organizing for Racial Justice – Shirley J Yee
Black Women and the Dynamics of Race and Sex in Female Antislavery Societies, 1832-1860
Black Women and the NAACP, 1909-1922 – Dorothy C Salem
An Encounter With Race, Class, and Gender
Racial Justice in Minnesota – Mary C Pruitt
The Activism of Mary Toliver Jones and Josie Robinson Johnson
The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the Unionization of African-American Women – Deborah Brown Carter
Local 282-Furniture Division-IUE, 1960-1988
Poor Black Sisters Decided for Themselves – M Rivka Polatnick
A Case Study of 1960s Women′s Liberation Activism
Searching for a Tradition – Joy James
African-American Women Writers, Activist, and Interracial Rape Cases
PART TWO: IMAGE WARS: LITERARY AND POPULAR CONSTRUCTIONS OF BLACK WOMEN
The Condition of Black Women in Spain during the Renaissance – Baltasar Fra-Molinero
The Rape Complex in the Postbellum South – Madelin Joan Olds
On the Use of Medical Diagnosis as Name-Calling – Bridget A Aldaraca
Anita F Hill and the Rediscovery of ′Erotomania′
Sapphires, Spitfires, Sluts, and Superbitches – Elizabeth Hadley Freydberg
Aframericans and Latinas in Contemporary American Film
African-American Single Mothers – Shirley M Geiger
Public Perceptions and Public Policies
PART THREE: PERFORMING THEIR VISIONS
′Oh, What I Think I Must Tell This World!′ – Charles I Nero
Oratory and Public Address of African-American Women
Before Althea and Wilma – Linda D Williams
African-American Women in Sports, 1924-1948
Black Women in Concert Dance – Melanye White-Dixon
The Philadelphia Divas
Sisters in the Name of Rap – Robin Roberts
Rapping for Women′s Lives
PART FOUR: CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOSOCIAL CHALLENGES
Life Satisfaction and the Older African-American Woman – Bernita C Berry
Sisterhood among African-American Mothers of Daughters Addicted to Crack Cocaine – Aaron A Smith
Appendix
Appendix: A Brief Guide to Resources by and about African-American Women –
Gwynne L Jenkins