Telling Histories

“Telling Histories details the dialectic between the obstacles [African American women] faced and their accomplishments, showing how demanding the academy has been of black women academics and how equally demanding they have been of themselves.” — Women’s Review of Books

“In Telling Histories: Black Women Historians in the Ivory Tower, 17 professors prove by their collective experiences that they have built their own community of support.” — A Nota Bene selection of The Chronicle of Higher Education

“The essayists offer readers much to think about as each tells her story of becoming a historian and of survival and success in the academy. . . . Recommended.” — CHOICE

“Many of the contributors offer very poignant and personal accounts of their struggles. . . . These essays do a masterful job of conveying the complexities of these struggles, while at the same time they offer the reader a clear view of the ways many of these women have been able to cope with these difficulties even as they continue to function as scholars and teachers. . . . A very timely book.” — The Journal of Southern History

“Engagingly written . . . should appeal to multiple audiences. . . . The book is not only valuable for graduate students but is also a significant contribution to the field and should facilitate bringing down barriers, both within and outside the academy, that constrain the professorial ranks, stifle voices, and preclude diverse academicians and scholars from writing and teaching without restraint.” — H-Net Reviews

“These narratives offer personal perspectives on the world of black women in the ebony and ivory towers. . . . One can appreciate the honest and forthrightness of many of the narratives.” — Journal of African American History

“The silence is shattered. Telling Histories reveals the story of the birth, institutionalization, and professionalization of the field of African American women’s history. In retrospect, who could have been against it? But the history told here makes clear that far too many were. African American women historians, bearing ‘unpleasant and unpopular news’ and doing ‘unmentionable history,’ found ‘begrudging tolerance,’ ‘benevolent disinterest,’ and indeed, outright racism and sexism. Allowed to enter the history profession but asked to do so in silence and awe, they said no. And we are all the richer for it. Telling Histories should be required reading for all historians and administrators and for all graduate students — who will one day become chairs, deans, referees, professional organization officers, grant officers, and colleagues.” — Thavolia Glymph, Duke University

“The arresting individual voices of these women blend together into a choir of unusual diversity, range, and depth. Individually and collectively, these autobiographical essays offer penetrating insight into the personal, social, and cultural worlds that have shaped black women’s experiences in the historical profession. What these stories tell us about the intransigence of racism, sexism, and classism in society generally — and the academy and history departments more specifically — is both disturbing and sobering, ultimately reminding us that a concerted struggle against these inequities must be redoubled.” — Waldo E. Martin Jr., University of California, Berkeley

“This is a compelling collection of essays by a distinguished group of women who have made history in a double sense — through both their lives and their writings. More than merely autobiography, this volume illuminates the manifold ways that legacies of slavery and Jim Crow have shaped knowledge production as well as the producers of knowledge. Together, these essays document the emergence of black women’s voices in powerful ways that inform, instruct, and inspire. This book will change lives — and even the writing of history.” — Eileen Boris, University of California, Santa Barbara

“I couldn’t put Telling Histories down, although I did sometimes have to put it aside, so powerful are the emotions it evokes. Deborah Gray White has done something quite wonderful here, first by analyzing so brilliantly the forces that kept black women from practicing history for so long, then by telling her own eloquent story, and finally by creating this priceless collection of first-person testimonies. These ‘telling histories’ will indeed serve as valuable primary sources and teaching tools. They will also stand as a significant contribution to a most necessary project: the toppling of the barriers, both internal and external, that constrict the professoriate, silence voices, and prevent diverse scholars from writing and teaching freely and well.” — Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill