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I AM WOMAN: A Book List from the Timeline

421 Years of Black Women Using Their Words

This book list is derived from the African American Women Using Our Words Timeline I developed for I AM WOMAN: Expressions of Black Womanhood in America. As with most creative projects, I had no idea where the timeline would lead.

This is by no means a full list of creative works or published/recorded documents by Black Women in America. More accurately, it’s a highlight reel of some of the historical works in the public domain. Some of the women were/are prolific writers and have multiple publications which are not listed within my timeline.

Begin With A Seed

The I AM WOMAN Project began with the idea that resistance and speaking up for ourselves are not a new concepts for Black Women. Lo and behold, a bit of digging reveals Black Women have been speaking, shouting, fighting, and resisting being controlled and abused since before our words were written down.

Discover a Forest

The Timeline in I AM WOMAN: Expressions of Black Womanhood in America includes 421 years of documented words by African descended Women in the United States of America proclaiming who they are and telling their stories in their own words. The Book List spans 421 years of Black Women in America advocating for themselves, their families, their communities and their people while exhibiting an impressive breadth of accomplishments throughout the centuries.

Black Women in America have a long and truly empowering history. Our truth cannot be hidden forever. Neither will freedom elude us forever. We are our most loyal encouragers. We are our own best defenders. Black Women have always been their own most worthy heroes.

Everything before 1924 is public domain and can be downloaded for free. May the readings liberate your mind, heart and soul. May your vision and understanding be infinitely expanded. Asè.

Book List, 1600-2021

1600 Isabel de Olvera Affidavit
1746 Lucy Terry Prince Bars Fight, August 28, 1746
1773 Phillis Wheatley Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral
1849 Jarena Lee Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee
1854 Francis Ellen Watkins Harper Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects
1850 Sojourner Truth The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
1859 Harriet Wilson Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, In A Two-Story White House, North
1861 Harriet Jacobs (aka Linda Brent) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
1863 Old Elizabeth Memoir of Old Elizabeth a Coloured Woman
1863 Susie King Taylor Reminiscences of My Life in Camp
1865 Charlotte Louise Bridges Forten Life on the Sea Islands
1868 Elizabeth Keckley Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
1890 Octavia R. Albert The House of Bondage
1891 Lucy Ann Delaney From the Darkness Cometh the Light; or Struggles for Freedom
1892 Anna Julia Cooper A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South
1892

1895

Ida B. Wells Southern Horrors: Lynch Law and in All Its Phases

A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings in the United States

1893 Amanda Smith An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the Colored Evangelist: Containing an Account of Her Life Work of Faith, and Her Travels in America, England, Ireland, Scotland, India, and Africa as an Independent Missionary.
1896 Gertrude Mossell The Work of the Afro-American Woman
1898 Kate Drumgoold A Slave Girl’s Story: Being An Autobiography of Kate Drumgoold
1926 Hallie Brown Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction
1904 Virginia Broughton Women’s Work, as Gleaned from the Women of the Bible
1919 NAACP Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1898-1918
1942 Margaret Walker For My People (poem reading)
1950 Gwendolyn Brooks Annie Allen
1953 Katherine Johnson Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position.
1959 Lorraine Hansberry Raisin in the Sun
1968 Audre Lorde The First Cities
1969 Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
1970 Shirley Chisholm Unbossed and Unbought
1983 Alice Walker The Color Purple
1988 Toni Morison Beloved
1986 Rita Dove Thomas and Beulah
2001 Mae Jamison Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments From My Life
2001 Condoleezza Rice Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family
Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me.
2008 Kamala Harris Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer
2009 LaShawnda Jones My God and Me: Listening, Learning and Growing on My Journey
2010 Carole Simpson NewsLady
2015 Amanda Gorman The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough
2018 Stacey Abram Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change
2018 Michelle Obama Becoming
2019 Valerie Jarrett My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward
2019 Susan Rice Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For.

 

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