Details

Subject(s)

• American literature—African American women authors—History and criticism [Browse]
• African American women in literature [Browse]
• Women and literature—United States—History [Browse]
• African American Women—Intellectual life [Browse]
• African Americans—Race identity [Browse]

Series

• New Black studies series. [More in this series]
• Illinois scholarship online. [More in this series]
• The new Black studies series

Summary note

Mitchell analyses canonical texts by and about African American women to lay bare the hostility these women face as they invest in traditional domesticity. Instead of the respectability and safety granted white homemakers, black women endure pejorative labels, racist governmental policies, attacks on their citizenship, and aggression meant to keep them in 'their place'. Tracing how African Americans define and redefine success in a nation determined to deprive them of it, Mitchell plumbs the works of Frances Harper, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, Toni Morrison, Michelle Obama, and others. These artists honour black homes from slavery and post-emancipation through the Civil Rights era to 'post-racial' America. Powerful and provocative, the book illuminates the links between African American women's homemaking and citizenship in history and across literature.

Notes

Previously issued in print: 2020.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Target audience

Specialized.

Source of description

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on April 30, 2021).

Contents

• House Slaves, Housekeepers, Homemakers
• A Home of One's Own
• No, Really: A Home of One's Own
• New Negroes, New Homes
• Home as Human Right and Black Power
• Still the Master's House?
• The Ultimate Home: Michelle Obama in the White House
• From Mom-in-Chief to Predator-in-Chief.

Show 5 more Contents items

ISBN

0-252-04332-4

Statement on language in description

Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...