Maya Angelou
"It is wonderful to view the pictures of these women. Their intelligence and kindness are evident in the photographs. I am inspired by their stories and their brave hearts."


Carol Moseley Braun
"This is a beautiful and important book. It puts a face on the most faceless Americans, black women, and in so doing gives honor to the universal human values those faces reflect."


Gloria Steinem
"The Face of Our Past helps to make invisible women visible. Out of African American and very particular lives, each woman looks with universal human eyes."


Paula Giddings, author of a forthcoming biography of Ida B. Wells
"History for the eyes and heart."


Emerge
" . . . an eloquent rebuttal to the stereotypes and distorted media images that have plagued Black women throughout history."


Julian Bond, Chairman of the Board, NAACP
"These photos of mostly ordinary black women make an extraordinary book. Each picture does speak volumes."


Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W.E.B. DuBois Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University
"These historic photographs make it possible for us to see face-to-face the vivid images of black women, known and unknown, from the Civil War to today. They not only illumine the past, they explain the present, and inspire the future."


Faith Ringgold
"I will use this book over and over as a photographic reference and for just plain reading and looking enjoyment....[This book] is a must-have for every American library, and for all people who want to know and experience the beautiful face of black women."


Book Description
This comprehensive pictorial history tells the story of Black women in eight parts: Family Life, Work, Hair, Resistance, Class, Education, Religion and Community, and Inner Life. In addition to 302 carefully chosen images, the editors provide descriptive captions and quotations from letters, diaries, journals, and other sources.


About the Author
Hilary Mac Austin was a contributing writer to The Encyclopedia of Black Women in America. She was also the photo researcher for A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America. Other books where she has served as the primary photo researcher include Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, and the forthcoming Irish American Desk Reference. Kathleen Thompson has been writing about women for twenty-five years. Recently, she co-authored, with Darlene Clark Hine, A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America. She was editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Black Women and was a major contributor to Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. She is also the author of the feminist classic Against Rape. She lives in Chicago.

FROM THE CRITICS

Emerge

....an eloquent rebuttal to the stereotypes and distorted media images that have plagued black women throughtout history.

Clarencetta Jelks - USA Today

Kathleen Thompson and Hilary Mac Austin are indeed dedicated to their subject matter....women in American history. The Face of Our Past: Images of Black Women From Colonial America to the Present is a testimony to this. More than 300 photographs and engravings cover hundreds of years. They show dignity through the degradation of slavery, authenticate cultural traditions and validate the inner strength of the subjects. The collaboration of both authors defines the identity of the black woman: who she is, how we physically define her and what her role is in our history. The author's careful research through government and private archives, museums and family collections, as well as their use of notes, historical documentation and quotations, makes this a scholarly resource.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

It is wonderful to view the pictures of these women. Their intelligence and kindness are evident in the photographs. I am inspired by their stories and by their brave hearts. — Maya Angelou

Julian Bond

These photos of mostly ordinary black women make an extraordinary book. Each picture does speak volumes.  — Chairman of the Board, NAACP