Written by herself : literary production by African American women, 1746-1892 / Frances Smith Foster.

ISBN:

9780585025087

Title:

Author:

Foster, Frances Smith.

Personal Author:

Foster, Frances Smith.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 206 pages).

Series:

Blacks in the diaspora

Contents:

Testing and testifying : the word, the other, and African American women writers -- "Sometimes by simile, a victory's won" : Lucy Terry Prince and Phillis Wheatley -- Equal men but true women : the post-revolution literature -- "Great liberty in the gospel" : Jarena Lee's religious experiences, life, and journal -- Gendered writing for promiscuous audiences : African American women's literature in the antebellum period -- Writing across the color line : Harriet Jacobs and Incidents in the life of a slave girl -- Romance and scandal in a postbellum slave narrative : Elizabeth Keckley's Behind the scenes -- Doers of the word : the reconstruction poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper -- Confrontation and community in Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert's The house of bondage -- "A woman question and a race problem" : The Black woman's era.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

American literature -- African American authors -- History and criticism.

American literature -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- History and criticism.

American literature -- Women authors -- History and criticism.

American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism.

African American women -- Intellectual life.

African American women in literature.

African Americans in literature.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

1993

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
810.99287 20	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

..".substantial contribution to African-American Studies and women s studies." Mississippi Quarterly

"A bravura performance by an accomplished scholar... it strikes a perfect balance between insightful literary analysis and historical investigation." Eighteenth-Century Studies

..". an impressive study of a wide range of writers.... Foster s work is both scholarly and accessible. Her prose is economical and direct, making this book enjoyable as well as instructive." Belles Lettres

..". an impressively wide-ranging discussion of texts and contexts... " Signs

"Foster has written a fine book that provides the reader with a context for understanding the importance of the written word for women who chose to set the record straight ." Journal of American History

..". fascinating, meticulously researched... Likely to prove seminal in the field... highly recommended... " Library Journal

"Written by Herself comprises a volume of remarkable female characters whose desires for social change often made them catalysts for spiritual awakening in their own times." MultiCultural Review

..". an outstanding piece of scholarship... Foster s book offers deeply intelligent, provocative, totally accessible analysis of a tradition and of writers still not sufficiently read and taught." American Literature

"Well written and thoroughly researched. Highly recommended... " Choice

The first comprehensive cultural history of literature by African American women prior to the 20th century. From the oral histories of Alice, a slave born in 1686, to the literary tradition that included Jarena Lee and Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert, this literature was argument, designed to correct or to instruct an audience often ignorant about or even hostile to black women."

Author Notes

Frances Smith Foster is an educator, writer, editor, and scholar.

Since 1994, Foster has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in African American literature at Emory University. She is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and women's studies where her courses have focused on women's writings and the narratives of slaves, as well as the role of Afro-Protestantism in African American cultural life. Foster is a charter member of the Womanist Studies Consortium, an interracial affiliation of scholars that supports feminist research on women of color.

Foster has published Written by Herself: Literary Production by African American Women, 1746-1892 and Minnie's Sacrifice, Sowing and Reaping and Trial and Triumph: Three Rediscovered Novels by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. She served as editor of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature and The Oxford Companion to African American Literature.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Acknowledgments
1 Testing and Testifying: The Word, the Other, and African American Women Writers	p. 1
2 """"Sometimes by Simile, a Victory's Won"""": Lucy Terry Prince and Phillis Wheatley	p. 23
3 Equal Men but True Women: The Post-Revolution Literature	p. 44
4 """"Great Liberty in the Gospel"""": Jarena Lee's Religious Experiences, Life, and Journal	p. 56
5 Gendered Writing for Promiscuous Audiences: African American Women's Literature in the Antebellum Period	p. 76
6 Writing Across the Color Line: Harriet Jacobs and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl	p. 95
7 Romance and Scandal in a Postbellum Slave Narrative: Elizabeth Keckley's Behind the Scenes	p. 117
8 Doers of the Word: The Reconstruction Poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper	p. 131
9 Confrontation and Community in Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert's the House of Bondage	p. 154
10 """"A Woman Question and a Race Problem"""": The Black Woman's Era	p. 178
Notes	p. 191
Index	p. 200

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Table of Contents