Introduction

pp 1-12

Part 1 - History, contexts, and criticism

1 - Early African American women’s literature

pp 15-31

2 - Women of the Harlem Renaissance

pp 32-49

3 - Women writers of the Black Arts movement

pp 50-70

4 - Contemporary African American women writers

pp 71-86

5 - African American feminist theories and literary criticism

pp 87-106

Part II - Genre, gender, and race

6 - African American women and the United States slave narrative

pp 109-127

7 - Autobiography and African American women’s literature

pp 128-149

8 - “Even some fiction might be useful”: African American women novelists

pp 150-167

9 - African American women poets and the power of the word

pp 168-186

10 - African American women in the performing arts

pp 187-209

11 - African American women writers of children’s and young adult literature

pp 210-223

12 - African American women essayists

pp 224-244

13 - African American women writers and the short story

pp 245-261

14 - African American women writers and popular fiction: theorizing black womanhood

pp 262-277

Bibliography

pp 278-300

Index

pp 301-306