|
From their arrival in the country, African American women writers
have developed a literary tradition based on their own experiences and
have consistently resisted attempts by patriarchal men and, especially,
matriarchal women to romanticize and redefine that heritage. The black
American woman's literary self-portrait began to come into focus during
nearly three centuries of legalized rape by white men and their designates
and sharpened its features during the ensuing eras of Jim Crow segregation and civil rights. This anthology is, perhaps, the only collection that
encompasses one of the most realistic approaches to this writing legacy,
including a generous selection of texts in a variety of genres: poetry,
drama, nonfiction and fiction, written by black women. The writers in
this volume are Lucy Terry, Angelina Grimke, Harriet Jacobs, Pauline
Hopkins and Frances Watkins Harper, with critical introductions, and
primary and secondary bibliographies of the individual writers.
About the Editor
SALLYANN H. FERGUSON is an Associate Professor of American and African American literature at the University of North Carolina and editor of the Charles W. Chesnutt: Selected Writings.
| |
|
