
Some people might argue that words are just words, but if words don't matter, then writers don't matter – and if writers don't matter, neither do we.
Writers take us to different places and introduce us to all kinds of people throughout vast periods in time. In one story, we might travel from 1920s Harlem to Nigeria in the midst of terror during the Biafran War, and then on to the mystical Oguta Lake, all without ever having to set foot outside our door.
Words and writers should never be underestimated, and there are hundreds of brilliant authors who deserve our appreciation and respect.
To wrap up Women's History Month, BlackVoices.com put together a gallery of 40 influential black women authors. Some names you may know and others you may not. Their varied backgrounds give way to multi-faceted perspectives.
Comments: (20)
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By: Chrystal on 3/31/2011 7:14PM
This is an interesting list. I can't believe Bernice L. McFadden did not make the list.
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By: cdm on 3/31/2011 8:57PM
For her book on Employment Rights, Your Rights What Employers do Not Want you to Know...You need to add author Carol Denise Mitchell to this list. Her work is a comprehensive guide that has steered many workers into directions that have saved their jobs. The book teaches one to preserve and protect self-interest in employment matters.
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By: GAYLE LIN on 3/31/2011 10:07PM
I'm an old white woman who loves to read the works of people of color. When I found Bernice McFadden, I could not stop until I had devoured every single one of her books. I laughed; I cried; I told my friends.
I can't believe she didn't make this list.
I'd say I'm quite familiar with at least half of this group, and agree with many of them. But, if this is the way it is, there should have been 41.
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By: LM Preston on 3/31/2011 10:50PM
I'm so excited to see my fav author LA Banks here on the list!
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By: dwillwrite on 4/01/2011 5:19AM
Your list lost credibility with me the moment I saw Karine Steffens. You have got to be kidding.
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By: Really on 4/04/2011 12:08AM
I totally agree with dwillwrite!
This was a heartwarming list to read overall, but Karine Steffens on the same list as an influential female author as Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, & Ida B. Wells - not quite.
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By: Kenyetta on 4/02/2011 12:33AM
Said the same thing to myself...wth? I know a handful of authors that could take her spot...did she even "write" the book?
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By: LovingMe on 4/01/2011 10:58AM
Interesting list. I don't know how Bernice L. McFaddend didn't make the list but Karrine Steffans did. Absurd.
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By: DontSayThat on 4/02/2011 12:30AM
I don't know either, interesting indeed!
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By: Just on 4/01/2011 8:25PM
Karen Steffans, Zane and Terri Woods? Horrible!
Where is:
Isabelle Wilkerson: The Warmth of Other Suns
or even
Danielle McGuire: At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape & Resistance – a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power.
Elizabeth Nunez: Bruised Hibiscus, When Rock Dance
These too are women writers who have something to say worth listening to. Steffans, Zane and Woods ...puleeez
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