During National Black History Month, take time to read about outstanding African-American women.
My list of must-reads includes stories about 20th-century black women's achievements. You will be awestruck by how they survived gender and race division.
Here are some examples:
•“In Search of Nella Larsen, a Biography of the Color Line,” George Hutchinson, B. Larsen
Noted writer Nella Larsen (1891-1964) was the “mystery woman of the Harlem Renaissance," the author says. Her mother’s Danish heritage and her father’s West Indian heritage put her firmly on the color line; and she lived on both sides, sometimes passing as white and other times settling into black culture.
Larsen — a Harlem librarian who used the pen names Nella Larsen Imes or Allen Semi, which reversed her names' spelling — wrote short stories about life on both sides. Her work — featuring characters facing situations that could happen to someone of any race — appeared in a number of prestigious magazines.
•“Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters,” Donald Bogle
This is a beautifully written and well-researched book revealing entertainer Ethel Waters' heartbreaking, successful life.
The story starts with Ethel's birth to a young mother living below the poverty level in Chester, Penn. Ethel became the woman who could do everything: sing, dance and act.
Her career as a blues and pop singer featured memorable songs such as “Stormy Weather” and “Heat Wave.” Her performance in the 1949 film “Pinky" received an Academy Award nomination.
Bogle's book follows Ethel’s good and bad times, and describes the tough relationships and racial undertones she experienced with actors.
And her perseverance through it all, as she excelled in her career.
•“The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou,” Maya Angelou
We can’t study black women without looking at author and poet Maya Angelou, an amazing woman of the times.
This book incorporates six books that she wrote about her life growing up in the South. It spans the years, depicting the good and bad times.
If you have read “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” you will want to read the continuing stories of her life — and you can do so in this one collected one-volume book.
•"Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years,” Sarah and A. Elizabeth Delany, with Amy Hill Hearth: Bessie and Sadie Delany, at age 101 and 103, respectively, give eye-opening accounts of life after emancipation, including the Jim Crow era and legal segregation.
The sisters' parents considered education as means of aspiring to a higher level. For many years after the Civil War, black women found it difficult to pursue an education, because women were expected to marry and become mothers.
Education was considered unnecessary.
Those who could afford college were barred from admission. When black colleges emerged — many of which started under religious organizations' guidance — the Delany sisters were encouraged to pursue a higher education.
Stop by the Crestview Public Library to learn about the Delanys' success as students, and to check out our collection of African-American biographies.
Jean Lewis is the Crestview Public Library's director.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Biographies offer glimpse of African-American history