Using writers such as Harriet Wilson, Frances E. W. Harper, Pauline Hopkins, Toni Morrison, Sherley Anne Williams, and Gayl Jones, the author highlights recurring themes and the various responses of black women writers to the issues of race and gender. Time and again these writers link slavery with motherhood -- their depictions of black womanhood are tied to the effects of slavery and represented through the black mother. Parton shows that both the image others have of black women as well as black women's own self image is framed and influenced by the history of slavery. This history would have us believe that female slaves were mere breeders and not mothers. However, Patton uses the mother figure as a tool to create an intriguing interdisciplinary literary analysis.

In this important new anthology, Venetria K. Patton and Maureen Honey bring together a comprehensive selection of texts from the Harlem Renaissance -- a key period in the literary and cultural history of the cultural life of the United States. The collection revolutionizes our way of viewing this era, as it redresses the ongoing emphasis on the male writers of this time. Double-Take offers a unique, balanced collection of writers -- men and women, gay and straight, familiar and obscure.

The editors have also included works from a wide variety of genres -- poetry, short stories, drama, essays, music, and art -- allowing readers to understand the true interdisciplinary quality of this cultural movement. Biographical sketches of the authors are provided and most of the pieces are included in their entirety. Double-Take also includes artwork and illustrations, many of which are from periodicals and have never before been reprinted. Significantly, Double-Take is the first book to include music lyrics to illustrate the interrelation of various art forms.

Arranged by author, rather than by genre, this anthology includes works from major Harlem Renaissance figures as well as often-overlooked essayists, poets, dramatists, and artists.

Looking at the work of such writers as Harriet Wilson, Frances E. W. Harper, Pauline Hopkins, Toni Morrison, Sherley Anne Williams, and Gayl Jones, Patton (English and African-American studies, U. of Nebraska-Lincoln) finds that they repeatedly link slavery with motherhood. She shows that the image of black women by others and themselves is framed and influenced by a portrayal of women slaves as mere breeders and not mothers. These writers, she says, counter the image with that of the mother.