Goler Teal Butcher (1925-93), a towering figure in international human rights law, was a scholar and advocate who advanced an intersectional approach to human empowerment influenced by Black women's intellectual traditions. Practical Audacity follows the stories of fourteen women whose work honors and furthers Butcher's legacy. Their multilayered and sophisticated contributions have critically reshaped human rights scholarship and activism-including their major role in developing critical race feminism, community-based applications, and expanding the boundaries of human rights discourse. Stanlie M. James weaves narratives by and about these women throughout the history of the field, illustrating how they conceptualize, develop, and implement human rights. By centering the courage and innovative interventions of capable and visionary Black women, she places them rightfully alongside such figures as Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston. This volume fundamentally shifts the frame through which human rights struggles are understood, illuminating how those who witness and experience oppression have made some of the biggest contributions to building a better world.

Profiles of influential Black women activists at a historic moment This volume offers a panoramic view of Black feminist politics through the stories of a remarkable cross section of Black women who attended the 1977 National Women's Conference. These women advocated for civil and women's rights but also for accessibility, lesbians, sex workers, welfare recipients, laborers, and children. The women featured in this book include icons Coretta Scott King and Michelle Cearcy, a teenager who served as a torchbearer at the conference. Contributors offer insights into the lives of Gloria Scott, Dorothy Height, Freddie Groomes-McLendon, and Jeffalyn Johnson. The profiles include activist organizers Georgia McMurray, Barbara Smith, Johnnie Tillmon, Addie Wyatt, and Florynce Kennedy. The hard-won achievements of politicians are examined and celebrated, including those of Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, Maxine Waters, C. Delores Tucker, the first Black female secretary of state for Pennsylvania, and Yvonne Burke, one of the first Black women elected to Congress and the first representative to give birth while serving. The final profiles cover Clara McClaughlin, reporter Melba Tolliver, and photojournalist Diana Mara Henry, who shared the details of the conference and the continual work being done by Black women with others through various media channels. This book places the diversity of Black women's experiences and their leadership at the center of the history of the women's movement. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Black Culture Traditions: Visible and Invisible helps students better understand the bedrock beliefs of black culture in America. Through carefully selected articles, students read valuable and foundational theory, critically analyze popular and lesser known forms of black culture, and learn how appropriation and performance has rendered certain aspects of black culture invisible. The text underscores how the omission of relevant teachings about African Americans continues the injustices and racial inequality experienced in America. The anthology features four distinct parts. In Part I, selected articles by Molefe Asante, Melville Herskovits, and Amos Wilson discuss theories of Afrocentrism, culture, and psychology, and shed light on many of the misnomers, misconceptions, and misunderstandings in black culture. Part II focuses on the values that are part of the everyday lives and experiences of African Americans, including religious beliefs, ideas of right and wrong, spending practices, and class ideology. In Part III, students read about black culture traditions with emphasis on the family. The final part discusses ideas related to beauty, black creativity, and the expression of values, beliefs, and traditions as aesthetics of black culture. A powerful and enlightening collection, Black Culture Traditions is an ideal text for courses in African American studies and cultural and ethnic studies.

Offering suggestions to correct the dehumanization of African American children, this book explains how to ensure that African American boys grow up to be strong, committed, and responsible African American men.

Based on the African American Women's Voices Project, Shifting reveals that a large number of African American women feel pressure to com-promise their true selves as they navigate America's racial and gender bigotry. Black women "shift" by altering the expectations they have for themselves or their outer appearance. They modify their speech. They shift "White" as they head to work in the morning and "Black" as they come back home each night. They shift inward, internalizing the searing pain of the negative stereotypes that they encounter daily. And sometimes they shift by fighting back.

With deeply moving interviews, poignantly revealed on each page, Shifting is a much-needed, clear, and comprehensive portrait of the reality of African American women's lives today.