The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture

In 1977, a group of Black women writers called "The Sisterhood" met regularly to discuss literature and liberation. They advocated for Black women writers and played a significant role in transforming American writing and cultural institutions. This book explores the group's collaboration, legacy, and impact on Black feminist collaboration.

Format: Hardback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 07 November 2023
Publisher: Columbia University Press

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in February 1977, a gathering of Black women writers, including Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, and several others, convened at June Jordan's Brooklyn apartment. Dubbed "The Sisterhood," this group, which later expanded to include Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, Margo Jefferson, and others, would meet monthly for the next two years, creating a vital space for Black women to discuss literature and liberation.

The Sisterhood's impact on American writing and cultural institutions is explored in Courtney Thorsson's book. Through original interviews with Sisterhood members, correspondence, meeting minutes, and readings of their works, Thorsson delves into the group's daily collaboration and profound legacy. The Sisterhood advocated for Black women writers at trade publishers and magazines such as Random House, Ms., and Essence, and eventually in academic departments as well, often facing sexist, racist, and homophobic backlash. Thorsson traces the personal, professional, and political ties that brought the group together, as well as the reasons for its dissolution. She examines the popular and critical success of Sisterhood members in the 1980s, the uneasy absorption of Black feminism into the academy, and how younger writers built on the foundations the group laid.

Highlighting the organizing, networking, and community building that nurtured Black women's writing, this book demonstrates that The Sisterhood offers an enduring model for Black feminist collaboration. The Sisterhood's legacy continues to inspire and influence Black women writers and activists today, reminding us of the power of collective action and the importance of creating spaces for marginalized voices to be heard and celebrated.

Weight: 652g
Dimension: 164 x 245 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231204729