An Annotated Bibliography of Reference Sources On African American Women

Abstract

The history of African American women in the United States is a history of courage, perseverance, and achievement in a society that continues to be polluted by racial and gender discrimination. This history, particularly the record of contributions and accomplishments by notable African American women, has been neglected by most mainstream scholars, coming to light largely only after the 1960s. The weight of the civil rights and women's rights movements forced many universities to begin offering courses on African American women. Currently, major scholarly works have begun to appear on a wide range of issues with regard to African American women, including Black feminism, Black women in religion and religious institutions, Black women in the literary world and in institutions of higher learning. This annotated bibliography illustrates a sample of the materials currently available on African American women, using the holdings of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection of Temple University. The collection is one of the largest and most renowned in the northeastern region of the United States. This article does not include biographical works, diaries, journals, or the like; nor does it cover ephemera such as pamphlets produced by and/or about African American women. It focuses instead on sources that conveniently provide biographical data as well as various types of anthologies.