Flat-Footed Truths: Telling Black Women's Lives

by Patricia Bell-Scott, Juanita Johnson-Bailey

Patricia Bell-Scott, an accomplished editor, has assembled another impressive chorus of revolutionary voices in Flat-Footed Truths. In this collection of candid essays, interviews, poetry and photographs, twenty-seven African-American women writers and artists share their memorable stories of identity and artistic creation. The flat-footed, or naked, truth, as told by the likes of Alice Walker, Sapphire, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez, bell hooks, Marcia Ann Gillespie, and Barbara Smith, is a revealing and enlightening one that, for years to come, will resonate, inspire, and encourage the exploration of identity and creative expression of those who read it.

Genres: Womens

238 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 1998

Reviews

[Karah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plain-spoken works best. All of the women possessed immense portions of intelligence but the straightforward writers moved me. Sapphire, Valerie Jean, and Barbara Smith were refreshing. There is no one way to perceive black women. We live as broadly as women in other ethnic groups. It's just among our community that many lifestyles don't find acceptance. What a cruel truth.

Conclusion: Some readers may consider this book a scholarly text.The sadness lies in that this book gets overlooked in spite of its brilliance.

[Dasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love being a black woman and books like this reinforce my sentiments. The book addresses topics surrounding black womanhood from multiple perspectives. The two ending chapter put into perspective the importance of community and honesty with other women. Anthologies are great because they offer a mixed bag of content. I learned about Zora Neale Hurston, Sojourner Truth, Sonia Sanchez, and countless other black women. Overall worth the read and rooted in information and feel-good accounts.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just the book I needed to read in order to conjure my Grandmother's story of migration.