| Contents |
Acknowledgments -- Introduction / Hettie V. Williams -- Summary -- Chapter 1. "Fired with a holy ambition": Maria W. Stewart and the foundations of Black women's jeremiadic tradition / Lacey P. Hunter -- Chapter 2. "Did not Mary first preach the risen savior?" Black preaching women as public intellectuals / Hettie V. Williams -- Summary -- Chapter 3. "Our group of women": Mary McLeod Bethune, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Charlotte Hawkins Brown, and Black women in the Christian intellectual tradition / Tejai Beulah -- Chapter 4. We led the way: Black women and the civil rights movement at Morgan State College / Simone R. Barrett -- Chapter 5. Elreta Melton Alexander: A theoretical approach / Virginia L. Summey -- Chapter 6. More than an icon: Taking Shirley Chisholm at her word / Marissa Jackson Sow -- Chapter 7. Lenora B. Fulani: Distinguished postmodern revolutionary / Omar H. Ali and Tiera C. Moore -- Summary -- Chapter 8. "Whoever heard of a woman running a newspaper?" The public life and intellectual odyssey of Charlotta Bass / John Portlock -- Chapter 9. "She did it for the culture": Black women visual artists as public intellectuals in the new Negro era / Lauren T. Rorie -- Chapter 10. Mildred Fay Jefferson and the pro-life movement: A conservative Black woman public intellectual / Hettie V. Williams -- Chapter 11. Naked truths: Dr. Joycelyn Elders, public health, and sex education in the 1990s / Tedi A. Pascarella -- Chapter 12. What she knows for sure: Oprah Winfrey and the tradition of Black spiritual but not religious writing / Summary -- Chapter 13. "Know where you are going and . . . remember where you came from": Black women in the Army during World War II / Sandra Bolzenius -- Chapter 14. Seizing opportunity: African American women in the postwar military / Tanya L. Roth -- Chapter 15. "Regardless of what life presents you": Black women public intellectuals in the post-Vietnam US military / Carol Fowler and Melissa Ziobro -- About the editors and contributors -- Index. |
| Abstract |
"While Black women's intellectual history continues to grow as an important subfield in historical studies, there remains a gap in scholarship devoted to the topic. To date, major volumes on American intellectual history tend to exclude the words, ideas, and contributions of these influential individuals. A Seat at the Table: Black Women Public Intellectuals in US History and Culture seeks to fill this void, presenting essays on African American women within the larger context of American intellectual history. Divided into four parts, the volume considers women in politics, art, government, journalism, media, education, and the military. Essays feature prominent figures such as Shirley Chisholm, Oprah Winfrey, journalist Charlotta Bass, and anti-abortion activist Mildred Fay Jefferson, as well as lesser-known individuals. The anthology begins with a discussion of the founders in Black women's public intellectualism, providing a framework for understanding the elements, structure, and concerns central to their lives and work in the nineteenth century. The second section focuses on leaders in the Black Christian intellectual tradition, the civil rights era, and modern politics. Part three examines Black women in society and culture in the twentieth century, with essays on such topics as artists in the New Negro era; Joycelyn Elders, a public servant and former surgeon general; and America's foremost Black woman influencer, Oprah. Lastly, part four concerns Black women and their ideas about public service-particularly military service-with essays on service members during World War II and the post-WWII military. Taken as a whole, A Seat at the Table is an important anthology that helps to establish the validity and existence of heretofore neglected intellectual traditions in the public square"-- Provided by publisher. |
