History/GWS 249 Reading Guide


Late-Nineteenth-Century "Race Literature" and Black Women Writers

    Essay:
  • Victoria Earle Matthews (1861-1907), “The Value of Race Literature: An Address Delivered at the First Congress of Colored Women of the United States, at Boston, Mass., July 30th, 1895” (1895), Link
    Short Stories:
  • Victoria Earle Matthews, Zelika—A Story,” (1892) Link; “Aunt Lindy: A Story Founded on Real Life” (1893) Link, Illustrations Link
  • Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935), “Violets” .pdf; “A Carnival Jangle” .pdf; “Little Miss Sophie” .pdf, from Alice Ruth Moore, Violets and Other Tales (Monthly Review, 1895)

    Optional Readings:
  • Kerstin Rudolph, “Victoria Earle Matthews: Making Literature during the Woman’s Era,” Legacy, Vol.33.1 (2016). JSTOR
  • Katherine Adams, S.A. Zagarelle, C.Gebhard, “Recovering Alice Dunbar-Nelson for the Twenty-First Century: An Introduction,” Legacy, Vol.33.2 (2016). JSTOR

Questions TBD