Book Review -- Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia (Volumes I and II) Edited by Darlene Clark Hine with Elsa Barkley Brown and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn

Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia (Volumes I and II), edited by Darlene Clark Hine with Elsa Barkley Brown and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn. New York: Carlson, 1993. 1,530 pp., $195.00, cloth.By any standard, Black Women in America represents a major contribution to American historical scholarship. This ambitious two-volume work is far more than a collection of biographical profiles of accomplished Black women. With its 641 individual biographies and 163 articles on related topics, this remarkable and massive publication is a virtual celebration of the contributions of Black women to the African American community and to American life and culture.The biographies included are those of nationally recognized African American women of all periods of American history up to the present. Women of all professions and walks of life are profiled in vivid and memorable detail, including an astronaut, several nuns, a significant number of entrepreneurs, and scores of physicians, performers, writers, political activists, and educators, to mention only a few. Also documented are achievers in the less traditional fields in which Black women have engaged successfully such as aviation, military service, and world-class sports. Readers learn about Black women inventors, composers, bishops, band leaders, and a motion picture set designer. Legendary and symbolic female figures, including stereotypical images such as "Aunt Jemima" and "Mammy," are also treated and their historical significance explained.Some of the information provided on Black women's involvement in organizations such as the American Teachers Association, the Association of Black Women Historians, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, and African American sororities and women's social action groups is very difficult to find elsewhere. Important movements of significance to Black women's history are also treated. These include the abolition movement, the suffrage movement, and the birth control movement as well as the civil rights and Black nationalism movements. Entries on places and institutions that have played important roles in the advancement of Black women appear throughout. There are also several articles on men who worked for Black women's rights or who were influential in Black women's organizations.Certain special features make this encyclopedia especially valuable to researchers and historical scholars. For example, bibliographies are provided with each entry, and a comprehensive bibliography is presented at the end of Volume II. Of special importance is the extensive listing of selected autobiographies by Black women. Tn addition to listing the usual secondary sources, the bibliographies in these volumes also include many less common primary sources such as letters, memoirs, family Bibles, scrapbooks, minutes of meetings, proceedings of conferences, oral histories, personal papers, and personal interviews. The volumes also list selected works, recordings, and videos for readers seeking more information. Another special feature is the group of appendices at the end of Volume II. These include a chronology of Black women in the United States and a listing of biographical entries as well as notes on editors and contributors. …