Synopses & Reviews
At the greatest moments and in the cruelest times, black women have been a crucial part of America's history. Now, the inspiring history of black women in America is explored in vivid detail by two leaders in the fields of African American and women's history.
A Shining Thread of Hope chronicles the lives of black women from indentured servitude in the early American colonies to the cruelty of antebellum plantations, from the reign of lynch law in the Jim Crow South to the triumphs of the Civil Rights era, and it illustrates how the story of black women in America is as much a tale of courage and hope as it is a history of struggle. On both an individual and a collective level, A Shining Thread of Hope reveals the strength and spirit of black women and brings their stories from the fringes of American history to a central position in our understanding of the forces and events that have shaped this country.
Review
"A Shining Thread of Hope offers inspiration not just to African American women but to all people struggling to overcome injustice. [It conveys] immense amounts of information in graceful prose." New York Times Book Review
Review
"Inspiring...this lively, well-written, and accessible history celebrates the grit and grace that have helped black American women survive and flourish." USA Today
Review
"Remarkably grounded in the complexities of the historical record and of black women's lives, A Shining Thread of Hope examines the mythology of the American mainstream as well as demonstrates a scrupulous appreciation of black women as a powerful but largely unacknowledged force in American society." Kirkus Reviews
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"A welcome, easily accessible, encyclopedic antidote to the prevailing stereotypes about black women....The history offered here is invaluable reading." Washington Post Book World
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"From time to time, a work of history itself makes history. A Shining Thread of Hope is such a book, marking a giant step in the creation of a more encompassing portrait of our nation's past." Nell Irvin Painter, The News & Observer
About the Author
Darlene Clark Hine is John A. Hannah Professor of American History at Michigan State University and the coeditor of
Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.
Kathleen Thompson is editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Black Women.