African American women writers have provided insight into life for women and for African Americans since Phillis Wheatley in colonial America became the first published African American writer in what became the United States.
African American women writers have helped to bring the black woman's experience to life for millions of readers. Here are some of these writers you should know.
In 1902, Dr. Daniel Wallace Culp published a book of essays on various issues facing African Americans of the day, including essays by several African American women. Includes biographical information.
Marita Bonner, a figure of the Harlem Renaissance, stopped publishing in 1941 and became a teacher, though a few new stories were discovered among her notes after her 1971 death.
Quotes by Gwendolyn Brooks - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.
Activist and professor who was "the third woman in history to appear on the FBI's most wanted list," her writings often address issues of women and politics.
Alice Dunbar-Nelson -- who also wrote as Alice Ruth Moore, Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, and Alice Dunbar Nelson -- was an African American woman writer at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Her life and writing provide insight into the culture in which she lived. Here are some recommended books by or about Alice Dunbar-Nelson.
While her work with the Children's Defense Fund is what Marian Wright Edelman is most known for, her writings about children's issues have been popular and are part of her advocacy.
Profile of Old Elizabeth, early African Methodist Episcopal preacher, emancipated slave, and African American woman writer.
Text of the 1863 autobiography of an African American ex-slave and preacher, called Old Elizabeth.
Lorraine Hansberry is best known for her play, A Raisin in the Sun, with universal, black, and feminist themes.
Quotes by Lorraine Hansberry - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.
From the roots to the blossoming to the neglect to the rediscovery of this important literary movement.
Quotes by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.
Anthropologist and folklorist, this Harlem Renaissance writer died virtually forgotten. Fortunately, Alice Walker has brought her back to public attention.
Quotes by Audre Lorde - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.
Quotes by Audre Lorde - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.
Biography of Toni Morrison, Nobel winning writer and explorer of human experience through the experiences of black women.
Quotes by Ntozake Shange - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.
Probably best known for her novel
The Color Purple, Walker is also an unabashed activist for causes she believes in.
A biography of Phillis Wheatley and an analysis of her poetry. Phillis Wheatley was a slave in Massachusetts at the time of the Revolutionary War who was educated by her owners and became a poet and sensation for a few years.
Critics have differed on the contribution of Phillis Wheatley's poetry to America's literary tradition. Most critics agree that the fact that a slave could write and publish poetry at that time and place is itself noteworthy in history. Critics through the decades have also been split on the quality and importance of her poems.
BBC World Service feature on women writers highlights Maya Angelou of the United States: her life events, key influences and themes, the works of this author, her style, and her thoughts on being a woman writer.
Virginian poet Rita Dove's poem to freedom, with images, mpegs, audio and text.
From About's Guide to African American history, a reproduction of the biography of ex-slave Harriet Jacobs. The editor was
Lydia Maria Child.
Christina Accomando, in a 1998
African American Review article, looks at how Harriet Jacobs'
Life of a Slave Girl helps in looking at antebellum legal reasoning. An extensive analysis of the book that has become a prototypical slave narrative.
Etext version of the autobiography of ex-slave Harriet Jacobs, edited by Lydia Maria Child. Site includes commentary, the book's introduction by Lydia Maria Child, and the entire etext.
BBC World Service feature on women writers highlights Jamaica Kincaid, born and raised in Antigua and now living and writing in the United States: her life events, key influences and themes, the works of this author, her style, and her thoughts on being a woman writer.
Biography of Ntozake Shange, playwright and writer, author of "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf: a choreopoem."
An article by Kimberly J. Largent on the memoirs of this African American woman. Susan Baker King Taylor was secretly schooled in her young years, who became a laundress while her husband enlisted in the Union army. She also served as a nurse, cleaned guns, and generally helped with the "colored" regiment's business, short of actual fighting.
