Description: This series has rescued the voice of an entire segment of the African-American literary tradition by offering volumes of compelling and rare works of fiction, poetry, autobiography, biography, essays, and journalism written by nineteenth-century black women.
Review Quotes: "Excellent analysis of Wheatley's poetry, presenting new, dimensional insights."--Regina Jennings, Franklin and Marshall College
"Terrific."--Ronna C. Johnson, Tufts University"The volume is a generous gift of exemplary and painstaking scholarship. Those who have never before encountered Shields' multiform Phillis will meet a friend in the poet and in this critic-bard."--Linda Susan Beard, Michigan State University"The notes and other supporting materials (criticism and variant poems and letters) are a teacher's dream. I could not imagine my early African-American Writers course without this edition. It is reasonably priced yet very expensive, even elaborate, in its conception."--William W. Cook, Dartmouth CollegePraise for the series: "A major contribution to American literary history....Now, through this collection, the thoughts, perspectives, imagination, and voices of nineteenth-century Afro-American women are accessible to the general public."--Black American Literature Forum"In an editorial feat of epic proportions, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has rescued the vast writings of nineteenth-century black women from oblivion....He has reinstated black literary ancestresses to their positions of prominence....Groundbreaking."--Marcellus Blount, The Village Voice Literary Supplement"What an astonishing gift...this collection is!...To have all of these black women writers' works together in one collection seems almost a fabulous dream."--Alice Walker"What an astonishing gift...this collection is!"--Alice Walker"The collaboration among The Schomburg Center, Oxford University Press, and these exceptional scholars is an extraordinary event...but the collection is a spectacular achievement."--Toni Morrison