A Black Women's History of the United States

by Daina Ramey Berry, Kali Nicole Gross

Overview

The award-winning Revisioning American History series continues with this “groundbreaking new history of Black women in the United States” (Ibram X. Kendi)—the perfect companion to An Indigenous People’s History of the United States and An African American and Latinx History of the United States.

An empowering and intersectional history that centers the stories of African American women across 400+ years, showing how they are—and have always been—instrumental in shaping our country.

In centering Black women’s stories, two award-winning historians seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women’s unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross offer an examination and celebration of Black womanhood, beginning with the first African women who arrived in what became the United States to African American women of today.

A Black Women’s History of the United States reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women’s lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women’s history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807001998
Publisher:	Beacon Press
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Series:	ReVisioning History
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Daina Ramey Berry is Michael Douglas Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a scholar of the enslaved and Black Women’s History and the award-winning author/editor of several books including A Black Women’s History of the United States. Connect with her at drdainarameyberry.com or @DainaRameyBerry on Twitter.

Kali Nicole Gross is the Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her previous books include Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America, winner of the 2017 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in nonfiction. Learn more at kalinicolegross.com or connect with her on Twitter @KaliGrossPhD.

Table of Contents

Authors’ Note

INTRODUCTION
Nannie’s Legacy and the Histories of Black Women

CHAPTER ONE
Isabel’s Expedition and Freedom Before 1619

CHAPTER TWO
Angela’s Exodus out of Africa, 1619–1760

CHAPTER THREE
Belinda’s Petition for Independence, 1760–1820

CHAPTER FOUR
Millie and Christine’s Performance and the Expansion of Slavery, 1820–1860

CHAPTER FIVE
Mary’s Apron and the Demise of Slavery, 1860–1876

CHAPTER SIX
Frances’s Sex and the Dawning of the Black Woman’s Era, 1876–1915

CHAPTER SEVEN
Augusta’s Clay, Migration, and the Depression, 1915–1940

CHAPTER EIGHT
Alice’s Medals and Black Women’s War at Home, 1940–1950

CHAPTER NINE
Aurelia’s Lawsuit Against Jim Crow, 1950–1970

CHAPTER TEN
Shirley’s Run, Black Power, Politics, and Black Feminism, 1970–2000

CONCLUSION
Patricia’s Climb and the Sisters Holding Down Liberty

Afterword
Acknowledgments
Image Credits
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

2021 NAACP Image Award Nominee: Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction

Honorable Mention for the 2021 Organization of American Historians Darlene Clark Hine Award

“This book is a font of inspiration . . . A compact, exceptionally diverse introduction to the history of black women in America.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“A substantial addition to popular history. Will likely be well-received by black women seeking better historical representation and by allies looking to educate themselves about black history.”
—Library Journal, Starred Review

“A welcome addition to the library of any history enthusiast, A Black Women’s History of the United States is an absorbing read.”
—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

“Captivating, highly readable . . . A timely and much-needed restoration.”
—Booklist

“This book is a gift to anyone interested in a more complete—a more truthful—story about the United States. By starting the history about Black women on this land with us as free people and as people agitating for our freedom, by prioritizing all Black women’s voices and coming up to the present day, Dr. Gross and Dr. Berry illuminate greater possibilities for our collective freedom dreams and struggles for collective liberation.”
—Charlene A. Carruthers, author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements

“A Black Women’s History of the United States is an extraordinary contribution to our collective understanding of the most profound injustices and equalities, as well as the most committed struggles to realize true justice and equality, that have shaped this nation since its birth. Through the courageous and complex voices of black women, and with deft attention to the lives that black women have led from the earliest moments of conquest and colonialism to the dawn of the twenty-first century, historians Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Gross have utterly upended traditional accounts of the American past in ways most desperately needed in our American present.”
—Heather Ann Thompson, historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

“Remarkably comprehensive and accessible, introductory and sophisticated, two ground-breaking historians have come together to produce a ground-breaking new history of Black women in the United States. To know the story of the United States is to know this indispensable story.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist

“A powerful and important book that charts the rich and dynamic history of Black women in the United States. It shows how these courageous women challenged racial and gender oppression and boldly asserted their authority and visions of freedom even in the face of resistance. This book is required reading for anyone interested in social justice.”
—Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom

“Black women have always been at the front line of change, and A Black Women’s History of the United States shows us in no uncertain terms that our DNA will have us here sculpting and writing the next chapters. Tell your sisters, mothers, and daughters to get this book for someone they love, because we owe it to ourselves, our daughters, our sons, and our future, to know the history that isn’t being taught in our schools. And it starts with us.”
—Anika Noni Rose, actor, producer, and singer

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2020

This work by Berry (history, Univ. of Texas at Austin) and Gross (history, Rutgers Univ.) expands the ReVisioning American History series by Beacon Press. Each chapter begins with a story about a black woman's experience around a selected topic. As the authors flesh out the chapter with wide-ranging and deeply researched information, they weave the featured story into the narrative to illustrate the topic under discussion. Chapter topics include black women's presence in the Americas prior to the Atlantic slave trade, enslaved black women's rebellions and legal battles for their freedom, the formation of black women's organizations working for political and social justice, black women choosing to live outside the law and their carceral experiences, the Great Migration and black nationalism, and black women's roles in contemporary protest movements. Most stories are about women who were assigned female at birth, but some trans women's stories are included as well. VERDICT A substantial addition to popular history. Will likely be well-received by black women seeking better historical representation and by allies looking to educate themselves about black history.—Monica Howell, Northwestern Health Sciences Univ. Lib., Bloomington, MN

Library Journal

Janina Edwards delivers these intense narratives of Black women, starting with African women brought to the Americas before 1619 and continuing through late-twentieth-century figures. In compiling these empowering stories of women during 10 historical eras, the authors provide a fast-moving account of how Black women brought here used their ingenuity and connections with other women to persevere against overwhelming obstacles. The intensity of what they endured is riveting. Edwards delivers the narratives with an impressive palette of accents and a level of swagger that sounds right for these truths. With the audible empathy she feels for this history, she is a big part of why this work succeeds in audio. It’s a necessary listening experience that adds dignity and human texture to the Black experience. T.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JULY 2020 - AudioFile

Janina Edwards delivers these intense narratives of Black women, starting with African women brought to the Americas before 1619 and continuing through late-twentieth-century figures. In compiling these empowering stories of women during 10 historical eras, the authors provide a fast-moving account of how Black women brought here used their ingenuity and connections with other women to persevere against overwhelming obstacles. The intensity of what they endured is riveting. Edwards delivers the narratives with an impressive palette of accents and a level of swagger that sounds right for these truths. With the audible empathy she feels for this history, she is a big part of why this work succeeds in audio. It’s a necessary listening experience that adds dignity and human texture to the Black experience. T.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JULY 2020 - AudioFile

★ 2019-10-23
A compact, exceptionally diverse introduction to the history of black women in America, rooted in "everyday heroism."

As Berry (History/Univ. of Texas; The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, From Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation, 2017, etc.) and Gross (History/Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick; Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex and Violence in America, 2016, etc.) persuasively argue, black women have "significantly shaped" our nation—and fought for their rights—throughout every period of American history. Yet their contributions often have been overlooked or underappreciated. In the latest book in the publisher's ReVisioning American History series, the authors offer a selective but wide-ranging search-and-rescue mission for black female activists, trailblazers, and others who have left a mark. In the first chapter, they introduce Isabel de Olvera, who became one of the first black women to set foot on what is now American soil after joining an expedition from Mexico in the early 17th century. From there, Berry and Gross proceed chronologically, opening each chapter with a vignette about a signal figure such as Shirley Chisholm, the daughter of Caribbean immigrants who became the first black female member of Congress. Along the way, the authors frequently discuss members of traditionally underrepresented groups, among them the lesbian blues singer Gladys Bentley and the conjoined twins Millie and Christine McKoy, whose exploitation by mid-19th-century showmen suggests the perils faced by black women with disabilities. The result is a narrative that highlights both setbacks and achievements in many spheres—sports, business, education, the arts, military service, and more. While their overall approach is celebratory, Berry and Gross also deal frankly with morally complex topics, such as women who committed infanticide rather than see a child enslaved. Amid their gains, black women face enduring challenges that include police brutality and other forms of "misogynoir," or "gendered, anti-Black violence." For anyone hoping to topple the remaining barriers, this book is a font of inspiration.

A vital book for any library or classroom—and for foot soldiers in the fight for racial justice.

Kirkus Reviews