African American Women's History

Black women in America, from slavery through Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, civil rights and black liberation movements.

Biographies, organizations, events and movements:

The Black Panthers’ Overlooked Revolution
The Nation. By Yohuru Williams and Bryan Shih, September 22, 2016

"Fifty years later, four women who helped build the party look back on the less-attention-grabbing part of its history."

Notable African American Women: Women in Black History
By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide
"An ever-expanding list of resources for learning about famous African American women and other women of Black History."

Voices From the Gaps: "Celebrating and documenting the creativity of Asian, Black, Latina, and Native women, VG is one of the internet's most comprehensive and well-respected academic databases for women artists of color. We provide innovative teaching and research tools for accessing a global community of women writers of color living and dead, obscure and renowned. The site reaches backward and forward to place readers, thinkers, students, and educators on a bridge which connects the gaps that exist in literature, society, and culture. Through our student-generated profiles, essays, reviews, and interviews, you can engage with artists whose works put faces on difficult and important issues ranging from immigration to racial prejudice, gendered violence to community resistance."

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The New York Public Library
"African American Women Writers of the 19^th Century is a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19^th-century black women writers. A part of the Digital Schomburg, this collection provides access to the thought, perspectives and creative abilities of black women as captured in books and pamphlets published prior to 1920. A full text database of these 19^th and early 20^th- century titles, this digital library is key-word-searchable. Each individual title as well as the entire database can be searched to determine what these women had to say about "family", "religion", "slavery" or any other subject of interest to the researcher or casual reader. The Schomburg Center is pleased to make this historic resource available to the public."

Women of Color and Race Relations in the U.S.
Selected Primary Sources in the Sophia Smith Collection and College Archives.

Black Women Oral History Project [Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College]
"The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981... a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20^th century."

On Black Feminism, a selection:

National Black Feminist Organization Collection Dates: 1974/1975
Abstract: The National Black Feminist Organization Collection includes minutes, correspondence, memoranda, by-laws, published material, and clippings related to the work of the Chicago chapter plus some additional materials from the National Office. Other information here

All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave: Black Women's Studies

Lesbian Feminists of Color: now on-line at the Feminist eZine with valuable links and resource, bibliographical listings.

See also: Suggested Readings for Black Feminists.
Compiled by Joan Nestle - Modified in 2006 by Suzanne MacNevin