Women's Work An Anthology of African-American Women's Historical Writings from Antebellum America to the Harlem Renaissance

by Maffly-Kipp, Laurie F.; Lofton, Kathryn

• ISBN13: 9780195331998
• ISBN10: 0195331990
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Women have always been historians. Whether in schoolrooms or kitchens, state houses or church pulpits, women functioned as teachers of history and historical interpreters, offering narrations of the past to criticize existent narratives and inspire new ones. Within African-American communities, women began to write histories in the years after the American Revolution. Distributed through churches, seminaries, public schools, and auxiliary societies, their stories of the past translated ancient Africa, slavery, and ongoing American social reform to populist audiences North and South. In the United States, black women have labored to sustain the cogency of their race and their families through the promotion of education, Christian and historical, for themselves and for their families. This book surveys the creative ways in which African American women harnessed the power of print to share their historical revisions with a broader public. These speeches, textbooks, poems, and polemics did more than just recount the past. They also protested their present status in the United States, using history to write a new story for the future of African America.

Author Biography

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of Religion and Society in Frontier California (Yale, 1994) and co-editor of Practicing Protestants: Histories of Christian Life in America, 1630-1965 (Johns Hopkins, 2006). Kathryn Lofton is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies at Indiana University at Bloomington.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 3
Maria W. Stewart	p. 14
ôAn Address Delivered Before the Afric-American Female Intelligence Society of Americaö (1832)	p. 15
Ann Plato	p. 20
ôEducationö (1841)	p. 22
ôDeath of the Christianö (1841)	p. 24
ôLouisa Seburyö (1841)	p. 25
ôThe Natives of Americaö (1841)	p. 27
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper	p. 29
ôLiberty for Slavesö (1857)	p. 31
ôMoses: A Story of the Nileö (1869)	p. 33
ôThen and Nowö (1895)	p. 49
Frank A. Rollin	p. 53
ôThe Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delanyö (1883)	p. 55
Mary V. Cook	p. 67
ôWoman's Place in the Work of the Denominationö (1887)	p. 68
Josephine Heard	p. 82
ôWelcome to Hon. Frederick Douglassö (1890)	p. 83
ôWilberforceö (1890)	p. 85
ôThey Are Coming?ö (1890)	p. 86
ôResting: In Memoriam of Mrs. Bishop Turnerö (1890)	p. 88
Anna Julia Cooper	p. 89
ôThe Status of Woman in Americaö (1892)	p. 91
S. Elizabeth Frazier	p. 100
ôSome Afro-American Women of Markö (1892)	p. 101
Virginia W. Broughton	p. 112
ôWoman's Workö (1894)	p. 113
Gertrude Bustill Mossell	p. 119
ôThe Work of the Afro-American Womanö (1894)	p. 121
Hardie Martin	p. 132
ôHow the Church Can Best Help the Condition of the Massesö (1896)	p. 133
Victoria Earle Matthews	p. 136
ôThe Awakening of the Afro-American Womanö (1897)	p. 137
Amelia Etta Hall Johnson	p. 144
ôSome Parallels of Historyö (1899)	p. 145
Katherine Davis Tillman	p. 150
ôHeirs of Slavery. A Little Drama of Todayö (1901)	p. 151
Pauline Hopkins	p. 156
ôOf One Blood: Or, the Hidden Selfö (1902-1903)	p. 158
ôFamous Women of the Negro Race: Educatorsö (1902)	p. 164
Leila Amos Pendleton	p. 186
ôA Narrative of the Negroö (1912)	p. 187
Olivia Ward Bush-Banks	p. 198
ôUnchained, 1863ö (1914)	p. 199
ôA Hero of San Juan Hillö (1914)	p. 201
Drusilla Dunjee Houston	p. 203
ôWonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empireö (1926)	p. 205
Hallie Quinn Brown	p. 218
ôHarriet-The Mosesö (1926)	p. 219
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