The Portable Nineteenth-Century African

A landmark collection documenting the social political and artistic lives of African American women throughout the tumultuous nineteenth century. Named one of NPR's Best Books of 2017.   The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers is the most comprehensive anthology of its kind: an extraordinary range of voices offering the expressions of African American women in print before during and after the Civil War. Edited by Hollis Robbins and Henry Louis Gates Jr. this collection comprises work from forty-nine writers arranged into sections of memoir poetry and essays on feminism education and the legacy of African American women writers. Many of these pieces engage with social movements like abolition women’s suffrage temperance and civil rights but the thematic center is the intellect and personal ambition of African American women. The diverse selection includes well-known writers like Sojourner Truth Hannah Crafts and Harriet Jacobs as well as lesser-known writers like Ella Sheppard who offers a firsthand account of life in the world-famous Fisk Jubilee Singers. Taken together these incredible works insist that the writing of African American women writers be read remembered and addressed.   For more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1700 titles Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.