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The Black Woman
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.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 1970
118 people are currently reading
4081 people want to read
About the author
Toni Cade Bambara
46 books496 followersToni Cade Bambara, born Miltona Mirkin Cade (March 25, 1939 – December 9, 1995) was an African-American author, documentary film-maker, social activist and college professor.
Toni Cade Bambara was born in New York City to parents Walter and Helen (Henderson) Cade. She grew up in Harlem, Bedford Stuyvesant (Brooklyn), Queens and New Jersey. In 1970 she changed her name to include the name of a West African ethnic group, Bambara.
Bambara graduated from Queens College with a B.A. in Theater Arts/English Literature in 1959, then studied mime at the Ecole de Mime Etienne Decroux in Paris, France. She also became interested in dance before completing her master's degree in American studies at City College, New York (from 1962), while serving as program director of Colony Settlement House in Brooklyn. She has also worked for New York social services and as a recreation director in the psychiatric ward of Metropolitan hospital. From 1965 to 1969 she was with City College's Search for Education, Elevation, Knowledge-program. She taught English, published material and worked with SEEK's black theatre group. She was made assistant professor of English at Rutgers University's new Livingston College in 1969, was visiting professor in Afro-American Studies at Emory University and at Atlanta University (1977), where she also taught at the School of Social Work (until 1979). She was writer-in-residence at Neighborhood Arts Center (1975–79), at Stephens College at Columbia, Missouri (1976) and at Atlanta's Spelman College (1978–79). From 1986 she taught film-script writing at Louis Massiah's Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia.
Bambara participated in several community and activist organizations, and her work was influenced by the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements of the 1960s. She went on propaganda trips to Cuba in 1973 and to Vietnam in 1975. She moved to Atlanta, GA, with her daughter, Karma Bene, and became a founding member of the Southern Collective of African-American Writers.
Toni Cade Bambara was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1993 and died of it in 1995, at the age of 56.
(from Wikipedia)
aka Toni Cade
Toni Cade Bambara was born in New York City to parents Walter and Helen (Henderson) Cade. She grew up in Harlem, Bedford Stuyvesant (Brooklyn), Queens and New Jersey. In 1970 she changed her name to include the name of a West African ethnic group, Bambara.
Bambara graduated from Queens College with a B.A. in Theater Arts/English Literature in 1959, then studied mime at the Ecole de Mime Etienne Decroux in Paris, France. She also became interested in dance before completing her master's degree in American studies at City College, New York (from 1962), while serving as program director of Colony Settlement House in Brooklyn. She has also worked for New York social services and as a recreation director in the psychiatric ward of Metropolitan hospital. From 1965 to 1969 she was with City College's Search for Education, Elevation, Knowledge-program. She taught English, published material and worked with SEEK's black theatre group. She was made assistant professor of English at Rutgers University's new Livingston College in 1969, was visiting professor in Afro-American Studies at Emory University and at Atlanta University (1977), where she also taught at the School of Social Work (until 1979). She was writer-in-residence at Neighborhood Arts Center (1975–79), at Stephens College at Columbia, Missouri (1976) and at Atlanta's Spelman College (1978–79). From 1986 she taught film-script writing at Louis Massiah's Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia.
Bambara participated in several community and activist organizations, and her work was influenced by the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements of the 1960s. She went on propaganda trips to Cuba in 1973 and to Vietnam in 1975. She moved to Atlanta, GA, with her daughter, Karma Bene, and became a founding member of the Southern Collective of African-American Writers.
Toni Cade Bambara was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1993 and died of it in 1995, at the age of 56.
(from Wikipedia)
aka Toni Cade
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
May 13, 2015
I found this book of all places at Walmart. Published in 1970, The Black Woman is an anthology of poetry, short stories, but mainly essays that are still relevant today, all written by African-American women. The material in this book was published in various magazines and journals during the late 1960s.
Reading this book I saw how so little has really changed in the mindset of Americans both black and white. The essays which are the majority talk about the conflict between black men and women but expressed that there should be unity and love between the sexes so they could both navigate and finally triumph over America's racial system. There is no "I don't need a man" attitude here or "I'm a strong black woman" repeated over and over which are the phrases so repetitious with many young African-American women. White middle class feminism is not seen as a model for black women. The black woman had her own issues and needed her own blue printed for uniting and reconciling with her man to become a loved and equal partner. These essays and stories of personal experiences also talk about the nature and history of racism in the American mindset, comparisons and contrasts of Dr. King and Malcolm X, The Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalism, our African heritage, black parenting, colorism or black self-hatred over hair texture and skin shade, the phenomenon of the black man and the white woman and the true meaning of it, the American school system, the urban black and bourgeois black, American imperialism, and there is a letter of a black woman written to her sisters over in Vietnam suffering in that war, along with much more all ending in an essay about the movie The Battle of Algiers and how if blacks were not so isolated geographically, fragmented, and had more a profound religious faith like the Muslims of Algeria had we might would be able to free ourselves from the tyranny of racism.
The essays, articles, and blog posts I often see on the same subjects now over 40 years later point out and complain of the same problems expressed in this anthology, but a number of the writers in The Black Woman provided solutions.
This is a beautifully written and intellectual volume on so many levels. At the heart of this book there is a great optimism that black people in America would survive and break their mental and physical bonds.
Since I also write, reading The Black Woman made me feel proud that once we had black women writers who didn't focus on celebrity and the banal in their writings like many do now, but we once had so much potential. I feel much profound sadness because we somehow lost and turned our backs on our own possibilities. What might have been...
Reading this book I saw how so little has really changed in the mindset of Americans both black and white. The essays which are the majority talk about the conflict between black men and women but expressed that there should be unity and love between the sexes so they could both navigate and finally triumph over America's racial system. There is no "I don't need a man" attitude here or "I'm a strong black woman" repeated over and over which are the phrases so repetitious with many young African-American women. White middle class feminism is not seen as a model for black women. The black woman had her own issues and needed her own blue printed for uniting and reconciling with her man to become a loved and equal partner. These essays and stories of personal experiences also talk about the nature and history of racism in the American mindset, comparisons and contrasts of Dr. King and Malcolm X, The Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalism, our African heritage, black parenting, colorism or black self-hatred over hair texture and skin shade, the phenomenon of the black man and the white woman and the true meaning of it, the American school system, the urban black and bourgeois black, American imperialism, and there is a letter of a black woman written to her sisters over in Vietnam suffering in that war, along with much more all ending in an essay about the movie The Battle of Algiers and how if blacks were not so isolated geographically, fragmented, and had more a profound religious faith like the Muslims of Algeria had we might would be able to free ourselves from the tyranny of racism.
The essays, articles, and blog posts I often see on the same subjects now over 40 years later point out and complain of the same problems expressed in this anthology, but a number of the writers in The Black Woman provided solutions.
This is a beautifully written and intellectual volume on so many levels. At the heart of this book there is a great optimism that black people in America would survive and break their mental and physical bonds.
Since I also write, reading The Black Woman made me feel proud that once we had black women writers who didn't focus on celebrity and the banal in their writings like many do now, but we once had so much potential. I feel much profound sadness because we somehow lost and turned our backs on our own possibilities. What might have been...
June 16, 2024
Loved this anthology! There was a lot more political analysis than i was expecting which made it even more enjoyable for me. I can’t stress enough how timeless this book is. all the critiques of capitalism, black men, and the black community/movements holds true today. This is for sure a new favorite of mine.
April 15, 2015
I was 16 years and had just arrived from Puerto Rico, when my uncle had a visitor. A very charismatic young black woman, who was living with an artist painter. Her name was Joanne Clark. My uncle introduced me and was proud to tell me that Joan had just published a chapter on motherhood in a compilation about Black Women. The woman on the cover of the book had a large smooth afro and so did Joanne Clark. The afro look was at the edge of everything. It was Hip, cool, radical, of self realization and freedom. The chapter on motherhood in this book, was one of the first reading I did in the english language upon arriving from Puerto Rico. I remember that I had to use a dictionary, and I read slow.
This book gave me a cultural panorama not only of black women, but of the sisterhood of women in general or in a Universal way; the only way I knew at that tender age.
Meeting the author was paramount in the development of my own artistic ways. I was lost and without advise about the future, all I knew was that I loved Art, sculpture and painting in particularly.
A few years passed and I was frustrated in some computer class, trying to make a career to make a living, when I ran into the author again. With one big supportive smile, she told me that I was on the wrong track and that I had to return to painting. I did and forty years after that is what i still do. I am proud of this book, needless to say....
This book gave me a cultural panorama not only of black women, but of the sisterhood of women in general or in a Universal way; the only way I knew at that tender age.
Meeting the author was paramount in the development of my own artistic ways. I was lost and without advise about the future, all I knew was that I loved Art, sculpture and painting in particularly.
A few years passed and I was frustrated in some computer class, trying to make a career to make a living, when I ran into the author again. With one big supportive smile, she told me that I was on the wrong track and that I had to return to painting. I did and forty years after that is what i still do. I am proud of this book, needless to say....
March 28, 2025
“Black women are a hale and hearty group. With the odds against them, they managed to excel in many fields.”
The Best Anthology i’ve ever read. It covers a wide variety of topics through the voices of outspoken Black Women, all who have insights that still resonate today! From being a Black Woman in America to Messages for the Black Man - All of the stories, essays, and poems in this are worthwhile, but my favorite pieces have to be:
Toni Cade - The Pill: Genocide or Liberation?
Gwen Patton - Black People & The Victorian Ethos
Joyce Green - Black Romanticism
Toni Cade - On The Issue of Roles
Frances Beale - Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female
Paule Marshall - Reena
Helen Cade Brehon - Looking Back
Grace Lee Boggs - The Black Revolution in America
Anything by Pat Robinson! She has 2 essays in this (A Historical and Critical Essay & Poor Black Woman’s Study Papers) that are both legendary!
Helen Williams - The Black Social Worker’s Dilemma
Relevant, Political, and Powerful, I learned so much from this anthology!
The Best Anthology i’ve ever read. It covers a wide variety of topics through the voices of outspoken Black Women, all who have insights that still resonate today! From being a Black Woman in America to Messages for the Black Man - All of the stories, essays, and poems in this are worthwhile, but my favorite pieces have to be:
Toni Cade - The Pill: Genocide or Liberation?
Gwen Patton - Black People & The Victorian Ethos
Joyce Green - Black Romanticism
Toni Cade - On The Issue of Roles
Frances Beale - Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female
Paule Marshall - Reena
Helen Cade Brehon - Looking Back
Grace Lee Boggs - The Black Revolution in America
Anything by Pat Robinson! She has 2 essays in this (A Historical and Critical Essay & Poor Black Woman’s Study Papers) that are both legendary!
Helen Williams - The Black Social Worker’s Dilemma
Relevant, Political, and Powerful, I learned so much from this anthology!
October 20, 2023
I was a little worried about what I'd gotten myself into when I read the introduction to my 2005 edition, which is dripping in the self-important, muddled social science jargon that was au courant when I was in college in, well, 2005. Fortunately that was an aberration--every one of the essays originally assembled in 1970 is sharply written, graceful and clear. Also, unfortunately, still necessary; so much of what's here speaks as clearly to today's era as its own.
My favorite pieces include Paule Marshall's "Reena," Joanna Clark's "Motherhood," and Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor's "The Kitchen Crisis," but there's no weak note here, really, except perhaps Helen Williams's "The Black Social Workers' Dilemma," which seems included primarily so no one can accuse Bambara of not making space for bourgeoisie perspectives in an otherwise heavily radical volume.
If there's anything that feels dated, it's the belief--mostly in the latter part of the anthology--that a true revolution is coming, that the storm will soon break. Five decades after the fact, I regret that we're still limping along making incremental change as best we can. There are still no shortage of people wishing for the fall of capitalism and imperialism--but fewer, I think, who see that fall on the horizon.
That, and the heterocentric, unshakeable belief in the gender binary. Despite the inclusion of poems by Audre Lorde, the closest this collection comes to acknowledging homosexuality is a snide remark about Bayard Rustin's lisp, and trans people aren't even a glimmer on the horizon. But I don't read old books because I expect them to conform to present understandings; I read them because I want to know how far we've come.
My favorite pieces include Paule Marshall's "Reena," Joanna Clark's "Motherhood," and Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor's "The Kitchen Crisis," but there's no weak note here, really, except perhaps Helen Williams's "The Black Social Workers' Dilemma," which seems included primarily so no one can accuse Bambara of not making space for bourgeoisie perspectives in an otherwise heavily radical volume.
If there's anything that feels dated, it's the belief--mostly in the latter part of the anthology--that a true revolution is coming, that the storm will soon break. Five decades after the fact, I regret that we're still limping along making incremental change as best we can. There are still no shortage of people wishing for the fall of capitalism and imperialism--but fewer, I think, who see that fall on the horizon.
That, and the heterocentric, unshakeable belief in the gender binary. Despite the inclusion of poems by Audre Lorde, the closest this collection comes to acknowledging homosexuality is a snide remark about Bayard Rustin's lisp, and trans people aren't even a glimmer on the horizon. But I don't read old books because I expect them to conform to present understandings; I read them because I want to know how far we've come.
June 25, 2020
I was looking for the exact assortment of this anthology when I perused my subscription service. I wanted to read Toni Morrison, Nikki Giovanni, and Alice Walker, and they were featured here along with many others. This was also perfect because I didn't have to commit to one book.
Frances Beale's essay on Double Jeopardy- To Be Black and Female, highlighted that a major differentiation for black women is in the liberation movement. The white women's liberation movement is basically middle class, as very few of these women suffer extreme economic exploitation. "If white groups don't realize that, they are in fact fighting capitalism and racism, we do not have common bonds".
This collection of poems, stories, essays, and conversations is a powerful look into the preoccupations of the contemporary black woman in this country. I also liked that student work was featured alongside professional writers. My other favorite entries were "To Whom Will She Cry Rape?" by Abbey Lincoln, "The Black Woman as a Woman", "Is the Black Male Castrated?", and "The Kitchen Crisis." I highly recommend this collection.
Frances Beale's essay on Double Jeopardy- To Be Black and Female, highlighted that a major differentiation for black women is in the liberation movement. The white women's liberation movement is basically middle class, as very few of these women suffer extreme economic exploitation. "If white groups don't realize that, they are in fact fighting capitalism and racism, we do not have common bonds".
This collection of poems, stories, essays, and conversations is a powerful look into the preoccupations of the contemporary black woman in this country. I also liked that student work was featured alongside professional writers. My other favorite entries were "To Whom Will She Cry Rape?" by Abbey Lincoln, "The Black Woman as a Woman", "Is the Black Male Castrated?", and "The Kitchen Crisis." I highly recommend this collection.
March 7, 2022
"The new world that we are attempting to create must destroy oppression of any type." (Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female by Frances Beale)
It's hard to not fall in love with this anthology. Even when it was published around the 1970s, it is still relevant and captures the realities in our society nowadays - remembering the movement of Black Lives Matter.
What I love most about this book is how it gives strong perspectives on black feminism, along with a myriad of the political and historical backgrounds of the movement to end racial oppression.
This is the kind of book that offers us neverending questions by the time we finished reading each chapter. I have to admit that it's not an easy read, even I need to revisit some chapters before I open the new one.
It's been a while since the last time I read literature on feminism, and reading this affable work gives me both joy and tears! If you're interested in the intersection of the black movement and feminism, this book can be a good place to start with.
It's hard to not fall in love with this anthology. Even when it was published around the 1970s, it is still relevant and captures the realities in our society nowadays - remembering the movement of Black Lives Matter.
What I love most about this book is how it gives strong perspectives on black feminism, along with a myriad of the political and historical backgrounds of the movement to end racial oppression.
This is the kind of book that offers us neverending questions by the time we finished reading each chapter. I have to admit that it's not an easy read, even I need to revisit some chapters before I open the new one.
It's been a while since the last time I read literature on feminism, and reading this affable work gives me both joy and tears! If you're interested in the intersection of the black movement and feminism, this book can be a good place to start with.
February 13, 2017
I picked up this book at the right time. With all that is happening in the world, Black women need affirmation. This book is still relevant today. It's so brilliant, even the preface hit hard. I can see myself re-reading and referencing some of these essays in the future.
Read
August 30, 2024The standout track on this mixtape is Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor's "The Kitchen Crisis." Written in a flowing vernacular, this rap about hospitality, food, and kitchens is timeless. We're all torn between convenience, food ethics and something I will call "soul" when trying to figure out what to serve friends and family. "The Kitchen Crisis" is far and away the best chapter in here.
Of course, the big names like Alice Walker before she got into lizards, Audre Lorde, Grace Lee Boggs, Abbey Lincoln, Nikki Giovanni and Toni Cade herself, all have great stuff in "The Black Woman", although I don't think it's Giovanni's best work. It was great to be introduced to writers I was less familiar with like Paule Marshall and Shirley Williams.
But most of the essays haven't aged too well. Even while trying to counter the nationalist's image of the woman's role in the big-r Revolution -- supporting her warrior man, making lots of babies -- some of the writers here lapse into other errors of that period like homophobically blaming sexual diversity on white people. Writers who urge us to let go of Victorian ideology repeat Victorian ideas of early humans. And there's so much verbiage countering the evil of the Moynihan report and the whining about "castration" and "matriarchy." So I was disappointed.
This collection is of vital importance in the *history* of Womanism or Black Feminism. I want to note that the last essay concludes that the Algerian Revolution does not offer a model for a Black Revolution in the US... because just as this book came out in 1970, the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground would begin copying some of the tactics of the FLN. For that kind of interest, this collection is invaluable.
Of course, the big names like Alice Walker before she got into lizards, Audre Lorde, Grace Lee Boggs, Abbey Lincoln, Nikki Giovanni and Toni Cade herself, all have great stuff in "The Black Woman", although I don't think it's Giovanni's best work. It was great to be introduced to writers I was less familiar with like Paule Marshall and Shirley Williams.
But most of the essays haven't aged too well. Even while trying to counter the nationalist's image of the woman's role in the big-r Revolution -- supporting her warrior man, making lots of babies -- some of the writers here lapse into other errors of that period like homophobically blaming sexual diversity on white people. Writers who urge us to let go of Victorian ideology repeat Victorian ideas of early humans. And there's so much verbiage countering the evil of the Moynihan report and the whining about "castration" and "matriarchy." So I was disappointed.
This collection is of vital importance in the *history* of Womanism or Black Feminism. I want to note that the last essay concludes that the Algerian Revolution does not offer a model for a Black Revolution in the US... because just as this book came out in 1970, the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground would begin copying some of the tactics of the FLN. For that kind of interest, this collection is invaluable.
January 17, 2019
The Black Woman: An Anthology is a worthy read. This collection is loosely organized around themes that have a profound impact on Black women such as socioeconomic standing, the many relationships that are a part of life (sisterhood, black/white, man/woman, government, media, religion). I think this concept is admirable, but it didn't make reading enjoyable throughout the text. There is a small section near the beginning that is fiction writing (poetry & short stories) and then the anthology moves to essays. Being this is an anthology, my issue isn't the mix of fiction and nonfiction, but that it was difficult (at least for me) to determine how the individual pieces fit together. Cade Bambara wrote in the introduction that the Black Woman is "a college graduate. A drop out (italics). A student. A wife(italics). A divorcee. A mother (italics). A lover. A child of the ghetto (italics). A product of the bourgeoisie. A professional writer (italics). A person who never dreamed of publication. A solitary individual (italics). A member of the Movement. A gentle humanist (italics). A violent revolutionary. She is angry and tender, loving and hating. She is all these things-and more. And she is represented in a collection that for the first time truly lets her bare her soul and speak her mind (italics)." This offers some clarification, but some pieces included in the anthology just didn't work for me, particularly in the last two essays. I think if the anthology is revised, it should be clearly organized around a specific idea with an introduction to each section that offers some explanation to what inspired the words written (if possible).
My favorite works contained in the anthology: Reena by Paule Marshall, Tell Martha Not to Moan by Shirley Williams, Dear Black Man by Fran Sanders, The Kitchen Crisis by Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor, I Fell Off the Roof One Day ( A View of the Black University) by Nikki Giovanni and Looking Back by Helen Cade Brehon.
My favorite works contained in the anthology: Reena by Paule Marshall, Tell Martha Not to Moan by Shirley Williams, Dear Black Man by Fran Sanders, The Kitchen Crisis by Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor, I Fell Off the Roof One Day ( A View of the Black University) by Nikki Giovanni and Looking Back by Helen Cade Brehon.
August 11, 2016
Major Field Prep: 67/133
This landmark anthology of black women's writing and black feminist writing published in 1970 was in reaction to the abundance of anthologies of black radical thought and literature that largely excluded women writers and female perspectives, particularly Baraka and Neal's Black Fire. This text catalyzes and foretells of the rise of black women writers in the next two decades. It includes fiction, poetry, literary analysis, political critique, and critical essays, many aimed at the characteristics of the Black Power movement. In it, Bambara articulates the concerns and interrogations of a fledgling Black feminism: "And the question for us arises: how relevant are the truths, the experiences, the findings of white women to Black women? Are women after all simply women? I don’t know that our priorities are the same, that our concerns and methods are the same, or even similar enough so that we can afford to depend on this new field of experts (white, female)” (Bambara 4).
This landmark anthology of black women's writing and black feminist writing published in 1970 was in reaction to the abundance of anthologies of black radical thought and literature that largely excluded women writers and female perspectives, particularly Baraka and Neal's Black Fire. This text catalyzes and foretells of the rise of black women writers in the next two decades. It includes fiction, poetry, literary analysis, political critique, and critical essays, many aimed at the characteristics of the Black Power movement. In it, Bambara articulates the concerns and interrogations of a fledgling Black feminism: "And the question for us arises: how relevant are the truths, the experiences, the findings of white women to Black women? Are women after all simply women? I don’t know that our priorities are the same, that our concerns and methods are the same, or even similar enough so that we can afford to depend on this new field of experts (white, female)” (Bambara 4).
January 30, 2014
the voices comes from northern writers, southern writers simply beautiful and strong and passionate awesome and Even though many new books on women in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements are now available, Cade's anthology is an excellent collection of contemporary documents covering issues such as the sexism of welfare, the role of women in the Revolution and the rights Although some of the materials may seem "dated" to younger readers, these are authentic "back in the day" voices of Black women who were in the middle of the feminist and Black Power movement
July 16, 2020
The more things change the more they stay the same. It was interesting reading this in today's political and social climate. There is much to be examined between The Black Liberation Movement and today's Black Lives Matter, especially through the lens of Black women. A must read for historians and sociologists.
April 12, 2025
What a powerful book this was! Featuring essays from different Black women, this book was likely seen as radical in its time (1970). We need these words followed by collective direct action, now more than ever. These voices discuss how all issues intersect with a lens that only Black Feminism can give.
June 27, 2012
My spirit guide. The end. Black women, race, class, feminism, revolution, love, sex, education, poetry, essays, stories. Life. Everything.
October 27, 2014
Love this book
July 21, 2024
One of the most profound compilations of revolutionary texts I have ever read. Every black person should read this book.
April 21, 2022
Excellent anthology. Highly recommend folks to read. Many of the essays, written in the late 60s, are still relevant.
It's also my first time reading Toni Cade Bambara, and I love the rhythm to her writing. I think it's excellent, tough, and explicit. It's almost like watching a 1920s detective movie dialogue scene -- it's rapid, comes at you quickly and before you can fully react, you've digested more than you'll ever be able to comprehend. It'll leave you chewing for days.
I loved the intergenerational share of stories. None of the essays sought to help you better humanize Black women either -- they didn't ask for empathy, didn't ask for you to understand. They wrote as they were. There wasn't a "here let me help you understand" piece in here, which I appreciated and I think we need more pieces like this out there in the world -- more unapologetic pieces about being and existing.
Folks should definitely read. As a non-Black nonbinary person of color, I learned so much. You want to be a good "ally" or "accomplice"? Read this anthology.
It's also my first time reading Toni Cade Bambara, and I love the rhythm to her writing. I think it's excellent, tough, and explicit. It's almost like watching a 1920s detective movie dialogue scene -- it's rapid, comes at you quickly and before you can fully react, you've digested more than you'll ever be able to comprehend. It'll leave you chewing for days.
I loved the intergenerational share of stories. None of the essays sought to help you better humanize Black women either -- they didn't ask for empathy, didn't ask for you to understand. They wrote as they were. There wasn't a "here let me help you understand" piece in here, which I appreciated and I think we need more pieces like this out there in the world -- more unapologetic pieces about being and existing.
Folks should definitely read. As a non-Black nonbinary person of color, I learned so much. You want to be a good "ally" or "accomplice"? Read this anthology.
September 21, 2020
This is a classic anthology and a brilliant book. Very wide-ranging, encapsulating various perspectives and frustrations that African-American women were experiencing in the late 1960s. It includes a great number of essays, on subjects ranging from education to romance to theatre to the history of Black Revolution to real (vs. instant) cooking to job inequities to beauty to the future of the Movement, and a lot more; but it also includes poetry and short fiction. All of this written, of course, by African-American women. It's an anthology like few that I've ever encountered. So glad I came upon a reference to it in another volume. While some of the concerns and topics seem local to the 1960s, the vast majority are still, unfortunately, concerns and topics today. Sad to see how in so many ways things are just not going forward.
September 22, 2024
Such a good read. I was hooked from Bombara’s preface honestly. The essays paint a dynamic portrait of black women digesting and defining what it is to be a black woman with a revolutionary mindset, in the midst of the rising black consciousness. Each essay provided so much voice and truth. I learned a lot, and it was fun to read because of the consistent strength and depth of the ideas presented. My favorites were “Reena,” “Diary of an African Nun,” “Motherhood,” “The Black Woman as Woman,” Nikki Giovanni’s “I Fell Off the Roof” piece, “Ebony Minds,” and Grace Boggs’ “The Black Revolution.”
July 7, 2024
“sometimes I feel like I have no original thoughts. when I read the writings of women from a former generation, I am shocked at how they could have voiced sentiments that I’m feeling 50+ years later. either they were truly ahead of their time, or we have accomplished virtually nothing in the time that has passed. or maybe the human experience transcends time.” - me, my instagram story, june 2024. great book.
October 15, 2017
The more things change, the more they stay the same... relevant even today, and interesting to read and note how our language has evolved. There are essays on intersectionality and fragile masculinity before these terms were coined. Bambara' pieces and the essay by Grace Lee Boggs were, for me, the strongest contributions.
An excellent book for anyone in the business of getting woke.
An excellent book for anyone in the business of getting woke.
August 10, 2020
Many topics were covered in this book. So many stunning points made. I still need time to process some passages, and possibly re-read them. Definitely not meant to be read in one sitting, but thoughtfully and over time instead. Also a great introduction to the work and thoughts of many black female writers. A good list of people to look up and read more of.
May 19, 2015
A nice mix of literary fiction punctuated by a hard-hitting set of essays. TCB's "On the Issue of Roles" and Pat Robinson's "A Historical and Critical Essay for Black Women in the Cities" are simply brilliant.
December 26, 2015
I'm so glad I discovered this book. It's truly a womanist literary work. I love the discussions of the roles of black women, black men and the black family. I spent this past year reading works like this that center the needs of black women.
I plan to re-read many of these essays.
I plan to re-read many of these essays.
June 17, 2018
This is good but about halfway through I just couldn't relate to this very first-world book. I'm sure it'll appeal to many and the collection of authors are super impressive but it just doesn't speak to me.
June 1, 2020
Wild how relevant a lot of what is discussed throughout this anthology is today. Until Black Women are leading the revolution, I doubt shit really gonna go anywhere.
September 6, 2020
Very interesting book. Great anthology of our experiences as Black women back in the 70s. A bit too radical for me to relate to, but I can appreciate their experiences.
December 23, 2021
BRILLIANT collection. Can't wait to read again. Makes me proud to be a Black woman.
February 25, 2023
Excellent collection of essays and poems. Required reading.
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