Emancipation's Daughters

RichÉ Richardson is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University and author of Black Masculinity and the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta.

“The women RichÉ Richardson examines broaden notions of black womanhood in opposition to the dominant imagery perpetuated by filmmakers, advertisers, and other cultural producers in the United States. This broad spectrum of black womanhood from the early twentieth century to the present allows Richardson to make an expansive argument about the role of these women in the broader American imaginary. The idea of black women as mothers of the nation outside of the mammy role is a powerful one that has not been framed in the way Richardson does here. Emancipation's Daughters is an engaging and important book.” - Lisa B. Thompson, author of (Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class) “RichÉ Richardson has given our tumultuous American moment a brilliant gift. Emancipation’s Daughters is an impeccably crafted guide to the struggles, creativity, and iconic labors of African American mothers and their emancipated daughters.” - Houston A. Baker, Distinguished University Professor, Vanderbilt University "Richardson employs a diversity of resources throughout, including political speeches, artistic images and photos, memorials and monuments, biographies and autobiographies, and literary works to consider how Black women leaders have redefined or advanced a notion of American selfhood that is different from the national story of the 'founding fathers.' . . . Throughout the book, Richardson nicely complements the text with images to illustrate her case studies and overall thesis. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." (Choice) "Emancipation’s Daughters significantly intervenes in how we understand Black women leaders in ways that resist the mama-fication (and even aunt-ification) that most Black women leaders experience in the public sphere. This is most powerfully exemplified in the way Richardson evokes the term 'daughters' as opposed to the familiar framing of Black women leaders as mothers. This strategic choice is quite compelling." - Stacie McCormick (American Literary History)

• Preface ixAcknowledgments  xxiIntroduction: An Exemplary American Woman  11. Mary McLeod Bethune's "My Last Will and Testament" and Her National Legacy  392. From Rosa Parks's Quiet Strength to Memorializing a National Mother  873. America's Chief Diplomat: The Politics of Condoleezza Rice from Autobiography to Art and Fashion  1284. First Lady and "Mom-in-Chief": The Voice and Vision of Michelle Obama in the Video South Side Girl and in American Grown  178Conclusion: BeyoncÉ's South and the Birth of a "Formation" Nation  220Notes  235Bibliography  257Index  281