Linda F. Williams – författare

This collection is the first interdisciplinary volume to examine black women’s negotiation of race and gender in African American music. Contributors address black women’s activity in musical arenas that pre- and postdate the emergence of the vaudeville blues singers of the 1920s. Throughout, the authors illustrate black women’s advocacy of themselves as blacks and as women in music. Feminist? Black feminist? The editors take care to stress that each term warrants interrogation: “Black women can and have forged, often, but not always––and not everywhere the same across time––identities that are supple enough to accommodate a sense of female empowerment through ‘musicking’ in tandem with their sensitivities to black racial allegiances.”  Individual essays concern the experiences of black women in classical music and in contemporary blues, the history of black female gospel-inflected voices in the Broadway musical, and "hip-hop feminism" and its complications. Focusing on under-examined contexts, authors introduce readers to the work of a prominent gospel announcer, women’s music festivals (predominantly lesbian), and to women’s involvement in an early avant-garde black music collective. In contradistinction to a compilation of biographies, this volume critically illuminates themes of black authenticity, sexual politics, access, racial uplift through music, and the challenges of writing (black) feminist biography. Black Women and Music is a strong reminder that black women have been and are both social actors and artists contributing to African American thought.

This book is designed to explore the historical and current level of African-American political participation, to assess the fruits of participation, and to provide recommendations for improving the efficacy of African American political participation in the future. Part One focuses on the historic struggle for securing and expanding African-American voting rights; Part Two focuses on the economic, legal, philosophic, and cultural context of African-American politics; Part Three focuses on prospects for African-American politics in the future—particularly the opportunities to develop successful electoral coalitions; and Part Four provides specific recommendations to produce fuller inclusion of African-Americans in the American polity.By providing a balanced account from the national perspective, this volume assesses the historical and current positions of African-Americans in politics throughout the nation. It assesses the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and clarifies the significance of the struggle for voting rights—and how extensively equitable voting rights have been achieved. By focusing on the economic, legal, and cultural contexts of African-American politics, it evaluates both the potential for success and the built-in limitations of American society in improving black status and everyday life-chances through the political arena. The possibilities for coalition politics are carefully analyzed—providing useful insights into the pitfalls and opportunities of coalition building among minorities and between minorities and various sectors of whites. The book also makes recommendations for increasing African-American political participation and provides strategies for the future. This collection will be invaluable to Black Studies programs and those concerned with current American socio-political developments.

This book is designed to explore the historical and current level of African-American political participation, to assess the fruits of participation, and to provide recommendations for improving the efficacy of African American political participation in the future. Part One focuses on the historic struggle for securing and expanding African-American voting rights; Part Two focuses on the economic, legal, philosophic, and cultural context of African-American politics; Part Three focuses on prospects for African-American politics in the future--particularly the opportunities to develop successful electoral coalitions; and Part Four provides specific recommendations to produce fuller inclusion of African-Americans in the American polity.By providing a balanced account from the national perspective, this volume assesses the historical and current positions of African-Americans in politics throughout the nation. It assesses the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and clarifies the significance of the struggle for voting rights--and how extensively equitable voting rights have been achieved. By focusing on the economic, legal, and cultural contexts of African-American politics, it evaluates both the potential for success and the built-in limitations of American society in improving black status and everyday life-chances through the political arena. The possibilities for coalition politics are carefully analyzed--providing useful insights into the pitfalls and opportunities of coalition building among minorities and between minorities and various sectors of whites. The book also makes recommendations for increasing African-American political participation and provides strategies for the future. This collection will be invaluable to Black Studies programs and those concerned with current American socio-political developments.