cover image The Rising Song of African American Women

The Rising Song of African American Women

Barbara Omolade. Routledge, $20.99 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-415-90761-3

Omolade presents an unusually detailed and well-written look at issues, past and present, that have shaped the lives of African American women, supporting her conversational essays with documentation. She opens with a discussion of the rape of African women by their masters, and the effects on not only the victims but their families, the masters' families and the children born of these rapes. One ex-slave remembers, ``My grandfather was an Irishman and he was a foreman, but he had to whip his children and his grandchilden just like the others.'' This is the kind of firsthand account Omolade uses to bring new insight into such issues as racism within today's African American community. Omolade also offers a historic look at single motherhood and black women in academia, and examines controversial contemporary topics, including the Tawana Brawley case. By tackling subjects that are rarely addressed in an academic format, Omolade offers new understanding of a group often overlooked, misunderstood or misrepresented by society. (Dec.)