A review by beverleefernandez
The Black Woman: An Anthology by

3.0

The Black Woman: An Anthology is a worthy read. This collection is loosely organized around themes that have a profound impact on Black women such as socioeconomic standing, the many relationships that are a part of life (sisterhood, black/white, man/woman, government, media, religion). I think this concept is admirable, but it didn't make reading enjoyable throughout the text. There is a small section near the beginning that is fiction writing (poetry & short stories) and then the anthology moves to essays. Being this is an anthology, my issue isn't the mix of fiction and nonfiction, but that it was difficult (at least for me) to determine how the individual pieces fit together. Cade Bambara wrote in the introduction that the Black Woman is "a college graduate. A drop out (italics). A student. A wife(italics). A divorcee. A mother (italics). A lover. A child of the ghetto (italics). A product of the bourgeoisie. A professional writer (italics). A person who never dreamed of publication. A solitary individual (italics). A member of the Movement. A gentle humanist (italics). A violent revolutionary. She is angry and tender, loving and hating. She is all these things-and more. And she is represented in a collection that for the first time truly lets her bare her soul and speak her mind (italics)." This offers some clarification, but some pieces included in the anthology just didn't work for me, particularly in the last two essays. I think if the anthology is revised, it should be clearly organized around a specific idea with an introduction to each section that offers some explanation to what inspired the words written (if possible).
My favorite works contained in the anthology: Reena by Paule Marshall, Tell Martha Not to Moan by Shirley Williams, Dear Black Man by Fran Sanders, The Kitchen Crisis by Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor, I Fell Off the Roof One Day ( A View of the Black University) by Nikki Giovanni and Looking Back by Helen Cade Brehon.