The Cambridge Companion to African American Women's Literature

Angelyn Mitchell is Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Danille K. Taylor is Dean of Humanities, Dillard University, New Orleans.

• Chronology of major works and events; Introduction Angelyn Mitchell and Danille Taylor; Part I. History, Contexts, and Criticism: 1. Early African American women's literature Frances Smith Foster and LaRose Davis; 2. Women of the Harlem Renaissance Cheryl A. Wall; 3. Women writers of the Black Arts Movement Eleanor W. Traylor; 4. Contemporary African American women writers Dana A. Williams; 5. African American feminist theories and literary criticism Robert J. Patterson; Part II. Genre, Gender and Race: 6. African American women and the United States narrative Joycelyn Moody; 7. Autobiography and African American women's literature Joanne M. Braxton; 8. 'Even some fiction might be useful': African American women novelists Madhu Dubey; 9. African American women poets and the power of the word Keith Leonard; 10. African American women in the performing arts Olga Barrios; 11. African American women writers of children's and young adult literature Dianne Johnson; 12. African American women essayists Marilyn Sanders Mobley; 13. African American women writers and the short story Crystal J. Lucky; 14. African American women writers and popular fiction: theorizing black womanhood Herman Beavers; Bibliography.