Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women

Abstract

Since 2015 we have benefitted from a flowering of academic works and meetings about black women and girls as thinkers. Last spring, both Michigan State University and the University of Michigan held conferences on black women's histories and intellectual lives. This year, Columbia University's Institute for Research in African-American Studies sponsored the Black Girl Movement Conference, and the University of Virginia will hold an academic conference on black girls in 2017. The historian Hettie Williams will edit a forthcoming book about black women intellectuals in the United States. Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women is a timely publication in this era of sustained resistance against the neglect, removal, and reduction of black women intellectuals across space and time. The exhaustive and inspiring work of the editors and chapter authors Mia Bay, Farah J. Griffin, Martha S. Jones, and Barbara D. Savage corrects these historiographic omissions (the voluminous footnotes alone evidence that records exist that document black women's thoughts, movements, writings, words, and lives).