The Black Woman: An Anthology

A collection of early, emerging works from some of today’s most celebrated African American female writers When it was first published in 1970, The Black Woman introduced readers to an astonishing new wave of voices that demanded to be heard. In this groundbreaking volume of original essays, poems, and stories, a chorus of outspoken women — many who would become leaders in their fields: bestselling novelist Alice Walker, poets Audre Lorde and Nikki Giovanni, writer Paule Marshall, activist Grace Lee Boggs, and musician Abbey Lincoln among them — tackled issues surrounding race and sex, body image, the economy, politics, labor, and much more. Their words still resonate with truth, relevance, and insight today.

Contents:

Woman poem by Nikki Giovanni
Poem by Kay Lindsey
Naturally by Audre Lorde
And what about the children by Audre Lorde
Reena by Paule Marshall
The diary of an African nun by Alice Walker
Tell Martha not to moan by Shirley Williams
Mississippi politics – a day in the life of Ella J. Baker by Joanne Grant
Motherhood by Joanna Clark
Dear black man by Fran Sanders
To whom will she cry rape? by Abbey Lincoln
The black woman as a woman by Kay Lindsey
Double jeopardy: to be black and female by Frances Beale
On the issue of roles by Toni Cade
Black man, my man, listen! by Gail Stokes
Is the black male castrated? by Jean Carey Bond and Patricia Peery
The kitchen crisis by Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor
End racism in education: a concerned parent speaks by Maude White Katz
I fell off the roof one day (a view of the black university) by Nikki Giovanni
Black romanticism by Joyce Green
Black people and the Victorian ethos by Gwen Patton
Black pride? Some contradictions by Ann Cook
The pill: genocide or liberation? by Toni Cade
The black social workers’ dilemma by Helen Williams
Ebony minds, black voices by Adele Jones and group
Poor black women’s study papers by poor black women of Mount Vernon, New York by Pat Robinson and group
A historical and critical essay for black women in the cities, June 1969 by Pat Robinson and group
The black revolution in America by Grace Lee Boggs
Looking back by Helen Cade Brehon
From the family notebook by Carole Brown
Thinking about the play The great white hope by Toni Cade
Are the revolutionary techniques employed in The battle of Algiers applicable to Harlem? by Francee Covington