Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Contradictions of Modernity)
In her first book, Black Feminist Thought (Routledge, 1990), Collins (sociology, Univ. of Cincinnati) looked at the role of African American women in the feminist movement. Here she focuses on the prejudices they face. Collins discusses the culture of silence in which African American women are seen but not heard, making them outsiders within their own race. She notes that their accomplishments are often ignored, especially when the women transcend expectations. She points to Mary McLeod Bethune, whose role in FDR's administration is often overlooked, and Angela Davis, who found that her Civil Rights work boiled down to her Afro hairdo. Collins discusses the need for African American women to avoid being segmented into areas the present culture finds acceptable. This is a difficult book but well worth the read. For academic libraries, especially those with African American and women's studies collections.?Danna C. Bell-Russel, Natl. Equal Justice Lib., American Univ., Washington, DCCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.