Recipient of the 2002 Bruce Catton Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Historical Writing.

In this “stunning collection of documents” (Washington Post Book World), African-American women speak of themselves, their lives, ambitions, and struggles from the colonial period to the present day. Theirs are stories of oppression and survival, of family and community self-help, of inspiring heroism and grass-roots organizational continuity in the face of racism, economic hardship, and, far too often, violence. Their vivid accounts, their strong and insistent voices, make for inspiring reading, enriching our understanding of the American past.

“A very timely and powerful collection which gives emphasis to the magnificent role of Black women in the struggle of Black people to survive in this, the United States,”—Nathan Irvin Huggins

“Gerda Lerner has collected . . . material which can change images that whites have had of Blacks, and possibly even those which we, as Blacks, have of ourselves,”—Maya Angelou