By Sabrina Over the past year, I embarked on a journey to read more Black authors, specifically reading Black feminist work. In Fall Quarter I was able to take a class on Black Feminist Literature and look at different depictions and facets of Black women’s experiences in America. This class focused on the intersectionality of racism and sexism that Black women experience and the stereotypes they face. So this is a) an appreciation post for these wonderful books and their equally amazing authors, and b) a sign to branch out and read some new books! Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama on January 7, 1891 but grew up in Eatonville, Florida, the nation’s first Black township. Her mother died when she was 13 and after she struggled to finish school and work. She ultimately joined a traveling troupe and traveled before landing in Baltimore in 1917. Once here Hurston was determined to finish high school and claimed she was 16 instead of 26 to join the local public high school. From that moment on she would present herself as 10 years younger than she really was. Hurston later graduated from Barnard College in New York City in 1928 and enjoyed being in the center of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance along with friend Langston Hughes. By 1935, Hurston had published several short stories, a novel, and a collection of Black Southern folklore and she would publish her best known work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, just two years later. Hurston went on to write countless other novels before she died in Fort Pierce, Florida on January 28, 1960. While she was able to receive her well-earned acclaim in 1942 after publishing her autobiography, she never received the financial awards of her work before her death. (Hurston) Hurston was also an anthropologist with expertise in African American and Carribean folklore in addition to her work as an author. She traveled to Jamaica and Haiti and even lived in Honduras for a period of time for her anthropological work. She actually wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God while doing fieldwork in Haiti. The novel itself follows protagonist Janie as she discovers herself over the course of her life and three marriages, intertwining themes of sexuality, femininity, and social status. The story is being told by Janie to her friend Pheoby, therefore highlighting the most important aspects of her life and centering her own experiences and emotions as a Black woman. Additionally the novel utilizes African American Vernacular English or AAVE to tell the story, adding to the storytelling and spoken word aspect of the story. The use of AAVE also worked to push boundaries of the time, as AAVE was not considered “academic” language for a novel, especially not for one which would later become so popular. Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 19, 1930. Her parents donated to the NAACP and were part of the Supreme Court case Hansberry v Lee that made restrictive covenants illegal; this was after the family moved into a white neighborhood and was harassed by neighbors, leading to the initial court case that ordered them to move. Hansberry later dropped out of college and moved to New York City where she worked for progressive Black newspapers and wrote in addition to waitressing. While writing for The Ladder in 1957, Hansberry wrote about feminism and homophobia, and concealed her real identity by writing under her initials in fear of discrimination exposing for her lesbian identity. She is best known for her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, which debuted on March 11, 1959 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. It went on to be the first play written by an African American woman to be performed on Broadway, get a cross-country tour, and win the New York Critics’ Circle award, in addition to her being the youngest American to win this award. She became active in the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 and released a second play in 1964 that was not embraced like her first. (Hansberry) The play itself follows the Younger family after their father’s death and the pondering of what the insurance money should go towards. The play follows four main characters: Ruth, her husband Walter, his mother Lena (referred to as Mama), and his sister Beneatha. Each member of the family has their own ideas and dreams they want to achieve with the money, highlighting the struggles of poverty. The play’s theme and title also refers to Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” and what happens when dreams are deferred. Issues of identity, justice, and moral responsibility encounter aspects of the Civil Rights Movement and women’s movement within the play, specifically in reference to redlining and Black male misogyny. Gayl Jones Jones was born in Lexington, Kentucky on November 23, 1949. She credits her love of writing to her mother, who inspired her to start writing at seven after watching her mother write down her own original stories to tell Jones and her brother. Jones graduated from Connecticut College in 1971 and went on to earn a Master and Doctor of Arts from Brown University in 1973 and ‘75 respectively. Jones released her first novel Corregidora in 1975 with the help of Toni Morrison, an editor at Random House. She released another novel, a collection of short stories, and two collections of poems over the next several years. In addition to writing, Jones was a professor at University of Michigan until she moved to Europe in 1983. She later released a novel and another collection of poems in Germany. She moved back to the US in 1988 and is currently living here. She went on to write two more novels before 2000. (G. Jones) Jones’ first work, Corregidora, follows the story of Ursa as she tries to discover her sense of self. Ursa grew up with the maternal side of her family and learned their generational trauma regarding abuse from men. Ursa finds herself living her life in order to be with men and have kids to continue passing down their family history. However once she is unable to have kids, she turns her focus to pursuing her goals as a blues singer. The novel follows the rhythm of a blues song, a theme that Jones used in a lot of her work. Additionally, as Ursa confronts the trauma in her own life, she is also forced to confront her family’s generational trauma and the impact it has had on her over the course of the novel. (TW: this story has depictions of an assault that leads to infertility, sexual assault, and incest.) Tayari Jones Jones was born in Atlanta, Georgia on November 30, 1970. Her parents were both professors at nearby colleges and were involved in the Civil Rights Movement during the ‘60s. Jones graduated from Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta, in 1971 where she was inspired to start writing by different mentors and authors’ works, such as Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Jones went on to get a Masters in English from University of Iowa in 1994 and a Masters in Fine Arts from Arizona State University (ASU) in 2000. Many of her novels hold influence from events in her childhood, such as the setting of her first novel, Leaving Atlanta, on the backdrop of the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-81. This novel was released while she was at ASU and her second novel was released in 2005. Her third novel, Silver Sparrow, was released in 2011 and drew inspiration from her step-sisters and their lack of a relationship after being raised apart. Her latest novel is An American Marriage and was released in February 2018. On the same day it was released, Oprah added it to her book club and later former president Barack Obama added it to his 2018 summer reading list. Jones has won a number of awards for her work, such as the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, NEA Fellowship, and United States Artist Fellowship. In addition, she won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Aspen Words Prize, and NAACP Image Award for An American Marriage. (Jones, awards) The novel An American Marriage follows three main characters, Celestial, Roy, and Andre. At the start of the novel, Celestial and Roy are enjoying their first years of marriage together when he is arrested and sent to jail. Jones then switches her writing style to letters to show the communication and evolving relationship between Celestial and Roy, despite them being apart. The novel skips forward five years as Roy is being released from prison and has to find his place in the world again. Meanwhile Celestial has grown her business without him and has built a relationship with Andre, Celestial’s childhood friend and Roy’s best man. Initially there was pushback against the novel as Celestial prioritizes her own happiness and mental health rather than supporting Roy unconditionally, as is expected from the wife of an inmate. However the novel leaves a powerful commentary on the effect that prison has, not only on those incarcerated but their loved ones on the outside and the difficulties of re-entering a society that has continued moving on without you. I hope that if you didn’t know who these authors were before, or even if you did, that you learned something new. Additionally I hope you check these books out since they are so good or try reading other books by these authors. They really help showcase different stereotypes and modes of oppression for Black women and how Black feminism operates. They helped widen my worldview and gave me different perspectives to consider so I hope they are able to do the same for you.
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January 2024
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