Although I’m of course not an expert here, this being my first book on Black-women-as-such, or any kind of intersectionality, the most obvious theme, the overwhelming pain of Black women and men in American history, is plain enough.

As far as gender goes, I think—in no particular order—that it’s of course not my business to mediate between between Black women and men; that despite sometimes having an irritated perception that not everybody cares if whitey treats his girl the right way, it is clearly the case that the overwhelming racial pain in America’s past and present separates white women from Black women, as white men from Black men; that Black women have also suffered racial and sexual violence from white men, Black men not being the only targets; and that Black lesbians and other African gender nonconformists are part of the queer community.

As far as the nature of race and history, it’s obviously been true, as hard as it is to correct, that the aim of historians has been to make history books as white as possible, even completely white if possible, and that the resulting art or science has been correspondingly European in complexion. Although we have some information now about Black people even during the period of American slavery, and Black history does not begin with the obviously pivotal civil rights movement, and despite that Black history does, in fact, exist, it is even now much less documented and studied than what I call general history, and therefore even now it is easy for the student of this art or science to consciously or unconsciously discount the Black element, and/or for the Black individual to assume either that history is nothing, and/or that it has nothing for himself or herself. This book is one small part in the beginning of reversing this long-standing and still very entrenched trend.

This book highlights the lives of individual black woman throughout American history with short vignettes. The book is written in a text book style and is fairly dry, especially in the first half where the source research is scant (due to the fact that not much is written by or about black women because of slavery and patriarchy), but there were lots of interesting tidbits. It is good to unearth and call attention to this history and remind us that the fight for equality, fairness, and morality is ongoing and to gain inspiration from those who came before us. ( )

This was such an amazing introduction to the roles black women have played in the formation and development of the United States. My only complaint is that it was too short! I found myself wanting to learn more about pretty much every topic discussed. I'll definitely be going through their endnotes to find more books on black women's history to further my knowledge. I highly, highly recommend picking up this gem and educating yourself about a valuable and often overlooked group of Americans. ( )

Another in a series of books that looks at the history of what we now know as the United States through Black Women. We often hear history through certain or select perspectives: the European colonists who "discovered" the land, the story of Rosa Parks but not the others who came before her, etc. So this was an interesting read.

The authors take us through various time periods and ask some hard questions that certainly weren't brought up in my education and I'd bet is still the same now. What of the women who came to these shores unwillingly, perhaps raped, starved, beaten, etc.? Why do we only know of people like Rosa Parks but not others who took similar actions? Why or how could Black Women also own slaves?

This is not to judge, but rather to show how many perspectives we often don't hear about and are very often lost to the mists of history. It was a lot to think about, but in a good way.

Overall, though, I'd say the book wasn't the best written. There are some really fascinating passages and as I said, it's food for thought. But overall I found it to be a tough read at times and would not be surprised if it's meant to be more of a textbook for a class. That said, I wouldn't dissuade someone from reading it, just be aware it isn't the easiest text, either by content or reading.

Library borrow for me was best. ( )