Recommendations based on "The Narrative of Sojourner Truth"

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“The fights against hunger, homelessness, poverty, health disparities, poor schools, homophobia, transphobia, and domestic violence are feminist fights. Kendall offers a feminism rooted in the livelihood of everyday women.”—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist, in The Atlantic“One of the most important books of the current moment.”—Time“A rousing call to action... It should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More WineA potent and electrifying critique of today’s feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminismToday's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on reproductive rights, politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.

The long-awaited guide to life for a generation of black British women inspired to make lemonade out of lemons, and find success in every area of their lives.Observer’s 18 for 2018: the talent and trends tipped for the topElle’s 12 addictive books you have to read to get through in 2018Metro’s best new books you have to get through in 2018BBC’s hotly anticipated debut authors for 2018Black women in 2018 are well past making waves – we’re currently creating something of a tsunami. From authors to politicians, to entrepreneurs to artists, black women in the UK continue to thrive against all odds and well outside of the world’s expectations. Women who look like us, grew up in similar places to us, talk like us, are shaping almost every societal sector, from the bottom and, finally, from all the way up at the top.Black women today are facing uniquely challenging experiences in all aspects of their lives. Yet when best friends Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené’s searched for a book that addressed these challenges they realised none existed. So Slay in Your Lane – the lovechild of exasperation and optimism – was born.From education, to work, to dating, to representation, money and health, this inspirational, honest and provocative Black Girl Bible explores the ways in which being black and female affects each of these areas – and offers advice and encouragement on how to navigate them.Illustrated with stories from Elizabeth and Yomi’s own lives, and from interviews with dozens of the most successful black women in Britain – including Amma Asante, Charlene White, Jamelia, Denise Lewis, Malorie Blackman and Dawn Butler MP – Slay in Your Lane recognizes and celebrates the strides black women have already made, whilst providing practical advice and inspiration for those who want to do the same and forge a better, visible future.

The Black Unicorn is a collection of poems by a woman who, Adrienne Rich writes, "for the complexity of her vision, for her moral courage and the catalytic passion of her language, has already become, for many, an indispensable poet." Rich continues: "Refusing to be circumscribed by any simple identity, Audre Lorde writes as a Black woman, a mother, a daughter, a Lesbian, a feminist, a visionary; poems of elemental wildness and healing, nightmare and lucidity. Her rhythms and accents have the timelessness of a poetry which extends beyond white Western politics, beyond the anger and wisdom of Black America, beyond the North American earth, to Abomey and the Dahomeyan Amazons. These are poems nourished in an oral tradition, which also blaze and pulse on the page, beneath the reader's eye."

Winner of Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery 2020 Harriet Tubman PrizeWinner of the Los Angeles Times 2019 Book Prize in HistoryWinner of the Southern Association for Women's Historians 2020 Julia Cherry Spruill Prize for the best book in southern women's historyWinner of the Southern Historical Association 2020 Charles S. Sydnor Award for the best book in southern history published in an odd-numbered yearWinner of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic 2020 Best Book PrizeWinner of the Organization of American Historians 2020 Merle Curti Social History Award for the best book in American social history"Compelling."--Renee Graham, Boston Globe"Stunning."--Rebecca Onion, Slate"Makes a vital contribution to our understanding of our past and present."--Parul Sehgal, New York TimesBridging women's history, the history of the South, and African American history, this book makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave‑owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South's slave market. Because women typically inherited more slaves than land, enslaved people were often their primary source of wealth. Not only did white women often refuse to cede ownership of their slaves to their husbands, they employed management techniques that were as effective and brutal as those used by slave‑owning men. White women actively participated in the slave market, profited from it, and used it for economic and social empowerment. By examining the economically entangled lives of enslaved people and slave‑owning women, Jones-Rogers presents a narrative that forces us to rethink the economics and social conventions of slaveholding America.

Drawing on papers, letters, journals, and extensive interviews with Walker, her family, friends, and colleagues, and with leading American cultural figures including Gloria Steinem, Quincy Jones, and Oprah Winfrey, White assesses one of the most influential writers of modern time.

An immensely persuasive work of literary criticism that opens a new chapter in the American dialogue on race—and promises to change the way we read American literature—from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winnerMorrison shows how much the themes of freedom and individualism, manhood and innocence, depended on the existence of a black population that was manifestly unfree--and that came to serve white authors as embodiments of their own fears and desires. According to the Chicago Tribune, Morrison "reimagines and remaps the possibility of America." Her brilliant discussions of the "Africanist" presence in the fiction of Poe, Melville, Cather, and Hemingway leads to a dramatic reappraisal of the essential characteristics of our literary tradition. Written with the artistic vision that has earned the Nobel Prize-winning author a pre-eminent place in modern letters, Playing in the Dark is an invaluable read for avid Morrison admirers as well as students, critics, and scholars of American literature.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER In the spirit of We Should All Be Feminists and How to Be an Antiracist, a poignant and sensible guide to questioning the meaning of whiteness and creating an antiracist world from the acclaimed historian and author of Twisted. Vital and empowering What White People Can Do Next teaches each of us how to be agents of change in the fight against racism and the establishment of a more just and equitable world. In this affecting and inspiring collection of essays, Emma Dabiri draws on both academic discipline and lived experience to probe the ways many of us are complacent and complicit—and can therefore combat—white supremacy. She outlines the actions we must take, including: Stop the Denial Interrogate Whiteness Abandon Guilt Redistribute Resources Realize this shit is killing you too . . .  To move forward, we must begin to evaluate our prejudices, our social systems, and the ways in which white supremacy harms us all. Illuminating and practical, What White People Can Do Next is essential for everyone who wants to go beyond their current understanding and affect real—and lasting—change.

NPR SPRING PICK An insightful exploration that unveils the lesser-known dimensions of this legendary writer and her legacy, revealing the cultural icon’s profound impact as a visionary editor and titan of publishing history who helped define an important period in American literature. A multifaceted genius, Toni Morrison transcended her role as an author, helping to shape an important period in American publishing and literature as an editor at one of the nation’s most prestigious publishing houses. While Toni Morrison's literary achievements are widely celebrated, her groundbreaking editorial work championing Black writers is little known. Drawing on extensive research and firsthand accounts, this comprehensive literary biography discusses Morrison's remarkable journey from her early days at Random House to her emergence as one of its most important editors. During her tenure in editorial, Morrison refashioned the literary landscape, working with important authors, including Toni Cade Bambara, Leon Forrest, and Lucille Clifton, and empowering cultural icons such as Angela Davis and Muhammad Ali to tell their stories on their own terms. Toni Morrison herself had great enthusiasm about Dana Williams's work on this story, generously sharing memories and thoughts with the author over the years, even giving her the book's title. From the manuscripts she molded, the authors she nurtured, and the readers she inspired, Toni at Random demonstrates how Toni Morrison has influenced American culture beyond the individual titles or authors she published. Morrison’s contribution as an editor transformed the broader literary landscape of African American literature and deepened the cultural conversation. With unparalleled insight and sensitivity, Toni at Random charts this editorial odyssey. This meticulously researched account reveals the hidden history of a literary giant: A Publishing Powerhouse: Go inside the walls of Random House to witness how Morrison, a multifaceted genius, strategically reshaped the American literary scene from her editor’s desk. Champion of Black Voices: Discover the stories behind the stories, as Morrison nurtures the talent of essential authors like Toni Cade Bambara, Leon Forrest, and Lucille Clifton. Empowering Cultural Icons: Learn how she provided the platform for figures like Angela Davis and Muhammad Ali to control their own narratives and speak their truths on their own terms. A Lasting Legacy: Based on extensive research and conversations with Morrison herself, this biography unveils an essential, overlooked chapter in the life of a literary legend.

After decades of relegation to the margins of American literary history, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God has recently been rediscovered by American literary and cultural scholars who have begun to explore the novel's thematic, ideological, and aesthetic complexity. In the introduction to this volume Michael Awkward provides an overview of the critical reception of Hurston's novel, from the largely dismissive reviews accompanying the novel's publication in 1937, to factors which helped revive interest in Hurston in the 1960s, to its recent establishment as a central American novel. The other essays in the volume discuss Hurston's sophisticated use of black folklore, the autobiographical resonances in the novel, Hurston's definition of the relationship between black artists and the Afro-American masses, and the usefulness of feminist modes of inquiry. This collection offers fresh insight for approaching Hurston's compelling exploration of a black woman's extended search for self and community.