ABOUT THIS BOOK

The pioneering anthology Home Girls features writings by Black feminist and lesbian activists on topics both provocative and profound. Since its initial publication in 1983, it has become an essential text on Black women's lives and writings. This edition features an updated list of contributor biographies and an all-new preface that provides a fresh assessment of how Black women's lives have changed-or not-since the book was first published.

Contributors are Tania Abdulahad, Donna Allegra, Barbara A. Banks, Becky Birtha, Julie Carter, Cenen, Cheryl Clarke, Michelle Cliff, Michelle T. Clinton, Willie M. Coleman, Toi Derricotte, Alexis De Veaux, Jewelle L. Gomez, Akasha (Gloria) Hull, Patricia Jones, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Raymina Y. Mays, Deidre McCalla, Chirlane McCray, Pat Parker, Linda C. Powell, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Spring Redd, Gwendolyn Rogers, Kate Rushin, Ann Allen Shockley, Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Shirley O. Steele, Luisah Teish, Jameelah Waheed, Alice Walker, and Renita Weems.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Barbara Smith is an independent scholar and was co-founder and publisher of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She has been writer in residence and taught at numerous colleges and universities for over twenty-five years. The author of many books, articles, and essays, including The Truth That Never Hurts (also by Rutgers University Press).

REVIEWS

Pungent and varied, full of questions, convictions, and insights.

— The Nation

It is fitting that Home Girls also reflects and celebrates the difference, among the [thirty-three] Black feminist writers, critics, and theorists assembled from the United States and the Caribbean, among Black women of all colors, classes, and cultures. More importantly, it reflects and celebrates our connections.

— Women's Review of Books

The survival of these women and their joy makes Home Girls very satisfying.

— Essence

A provocative and important new collection.

— Ms.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface to the Rutgers University Press Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Poem, Akasha (Gloria) Hull

The Blood--Yes, The Blood
For a Godchild, Regina, On the Occasion of Her First Love, Toi Derricotte
The Damned, Toi Derricotte
Hester's Song, Toi Derricotte
The Sisters, Alexis De Veaux
Debra, Michelle T. Clinton
If I Could Write This In Fire, I Would Write This In Fire, Michelle Cliff
The Blood--Yes, the Blood: A Conversation, Cenen and Barbara Smith
Something Latino Was Up With Us, Spring Redd
"I Used To Think", Chirlane McCray
The Black Back-Ups, Kate Rushin
Home, Barbara Smith

Artists Without Art Form
"Under The Days": The Buried Life and Poetry of Angelina Weld Grimké, Akasha (Gloria) Hull
The Black Lesbian in American Literature: An Overview, Ann Allen Shockley
Artists Without Art Form, Renata Weems
I've Been Thinking of Diana Sands, Patricia Jones
A Cultural Legacy Denied and Discovered: Black Lesbians in Fiction by Women, Jewelle L. Gomez
What It Is I Think She's Doing Anyhow: A Reading of Toni Cade Bambara's The Salt Eaters, Akasha (Gloria) Hull

Black Lesbians--Who Will Fight For Our Lives But Us?
Tar Beach, Audre Lorde
Before I Dress and Soar Again, Donna Allegra
LeRoy's Birthday, Raymina Y. Mays
The Wedding, Beverly Smith
Maria de las Rosas, Becky Birtha
Miss Esther's Land, Barbara A. Banks
The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community, Cheryl Clarke
Where Will You Be? Pat Parker

A Home Girls' Album
Selected Photographs

A Hell of a Place to Ferment a Revolution
Among the Things That Use To Be, Willie M. Coleman
From Sea to Shining Sea, June Jordan
Women of Summer, Cheryl Clarke
The TIred Poem: Last Letter from a Typical Unemployed Black Professional Woman, Kate Rushin
Shoes Are Made for Walking, Shirley O. Steele
Billy de Lye, Deirdre McCalla
The Combahee River Collective Statement, Combahee River Collective
Black Macho and Black Feminism, Linda C. Powell
Black Lesbian/Feminist Organizing: A Conversation, Tania Abdulahad, Gwendolyn Rogers, Barbara Smith, Jameelah Waheed
For Strong Women, Michelle T. Clinton
The Black Goddess, Kate Rushin
Women's Spirituality: A Household Act, Luisah Teish
Only Justice Can Stop a Curse, Alice Walker
Coalition Politics: Turning the Century, Bernice Johnson Reagon
Contributors' Biographies