In this Book
- Words of Witness: Black Women's Autobiography in the Post-Brown Era
- Book
- 2016
- Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
- Series: Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography
summary
A literary and political genealogy of the last half-century, Words of Witness explores black feminist autobiographical narratives in the context of activism and history since the landmark 1954 segregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. Angela A. Ards examines how activist writers, especially five whose memoirs were published in the 1990s and 2000s, crafted these life stories to engage and shape progressive, post-Brown politics.
Exploring works by the critically acclaimed June Jordan and Edwidge Danticat, as well as by popular and emerging authors such as Melba Beals, Rosemary Bray, and Eisa Davis, Ards demonstrates how each text asserts countermemories to official—and often nostalgic—understandings of the civil rights and Black Power movements. She situates each writer as activist-citizen, adopting and remaking particular roles—warrior, “the least of these,” immigrant, hip-hop head—to crystallize a range of black feminist responses to urgent but unresolved political issues.
Exploring works by the critically acclaimed June Jordan and Edwidge Danticat, as well as by popular and emerging authors such as Melba Beals, Rosemary Bray, and Eisa Davis, Ards demonstrates how each text asserts countermemories to official—and often nostalgic—understandings of the civil rights and Black Power movements. She situates each writer as activist-citizen, adopting and remaking particular roles—warrior, “the least of these,” immigrant, hip-hop head—to crystallize a range of black feminist responses to urgent but unresolved political issues.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xiv
- Bibliography
- pp. 191-216
- Other Works in the Series
- pp. 231-235
Additional Information
ISBN
9780299305031
Related ISBN(s)
9780299305048, 9780299305086
MARC Record
OCLC
933516760
Pages
249
Launched on MUSE
2016-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2015