January 15th, 2016: the 87th birthday anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read about his life, and his perhaps most important speech, Beyond Vietnam: An excerpt that resonates today: "I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

New York Times, Jan. 24, 2015: "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the March on Washington are part of the political legacy inherited by today’s activists. But so too is the Black Panther Party. Both stories inform not only where we are today, but also where we might be heading."... See accompanying 7.17 minute independent video: The Black Panthers Revisited

The related documentary film The Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution, directed by Stanley Nelson, was released in early 2016.

Sources of information, African-American women

African American Women's History

Black women in America, from slavery through Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, civil rights and black liberation movements.

Biographies, organizations, events and movements:


The Black Panthers’ Overlooked Revolution
The Nation. By Yohuru Williams and Bryan Shih, September 22, 2016

"Fifty years later, four women who helped build the party look back on the less-attention-grabbing part of its history."

Notable African American Women: Women in Black History
By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide
"An ever-expanding list of resources for learning about famous African American women and other women of Black History."

Voices From the Gaps: "Celebrating and documenting the creativity of Asian, Black, Latina, and Native women, VG is one of the internet's most comprehensive and well-respected academic databases for women artists of color. We provide innovative teaching and research tools for accessing a global community of women writers of color living and dead, obscure and renowned. The site reaches backward and forward to place readers, thinkers, students, and educators on a bridge which connects the gaps that exist in literature, society, and culture. Through our student-generated profiles, essays, reviews, and interviews, you can engage with artists whose works put faces on difficult and important issues ranging from immigration to racial prejudice, gendered violence to community resistance."

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The New York Public Library
"African American Women Writers of the 19th Century is a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century black women writers. A part of the Digital Schomburg, this collection provides access to the thought, perspectives and creative abilities of black women as captured in books and pamphlets published prior to 1920. A full text database of these 19th and early 20th- century titles, this digital library is key-word-searchable. Each individual title as well as the entire database can be searched to determine what these women had to say about "family", "religion", "slavery" or any other subject of interest to the researcher or casual reader. The Schomburg Center is pleased to make this historic resource available to the public."

Women of Color and Race Relations in the U.S.

Selected Primary Sources in the Sophia Smith Collection and College Archives.

Black Women Oral History Project [Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College]
"The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981... a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20th century."

On Black Feminism, a selection:

National Black Feminist Organization Collection Dates: 1974/1975
Abstract: The National Black Feminist Organization Collection includes minutes, correspondence, memoranda, by-laws, published material, and clippings related to the work of the Chicago chapter plus some additional materials from the National Office. Other information here

All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave: Black Women's Studies

Lesbian Feminists of Color: now on-line at the Feminist eZine with valuable links and resource, bibliographical listings.

See also: Suggested Readings for Black Feminists.
Compiled by Joan Nestle - Modified in 2006 by Suzanne MacNevin

AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN'S IDENTITY: A BIBLIOGRAPHY
An on-line listing compiled by Xenturah Monique Woodley and Dr. Carmen Williams:
"The majority of the items included in the bibliography deal with either gender identity or racial identity, very few dealt with gender and race as they related to Black women specifically. However, we feel that it is necessary to include all of these articles/chapters in our writing and research. This bibliography is not offered as the SOLE bibliography on Black women's identity, instead is being offered as a starting point for researchers interested in issues relative to African-American female identity..."