Within this project, the Healing Collective is engaging in a practice of articulating the work of Black women as vital ways of thinking and being. These works inherently speak to a relationality/conversation between Black women. These anthologies also speak to the multiple ways Black women have challenged “feminism” and advanced Black radical politics. The anthology, But Some of Us Are Brave (ed. Hull, Bell-Scott, and Smith), speaks to this intervention directly and shares a dearth of resources throughout the anthology (including a bibliography on Black Feminist Thought). We build on the creation of these central houses of information by providing anthologies that have advanced and broadened the work of these editors across the gender spectrum and across the African Diaspora.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by 
Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology by 
Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines by 
Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology by 
No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies by 
All the Women Are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies by 
The Womanist Reader by 
Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice by 
We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85: a Sourcebook by 
Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles by 
Erotique Noire/Black Erotica by
In their work, The Black Female Body: A Photographic History, Deborah Willis and Carla Williams explore how Black female-identified bodies have been portrayed throughout the history of photography. Their work is integral in understanding the ways in which Black women have had limited autonomy over their own images. However, the artists in this collection seek to re-imagine images of, and for, Black women. Many of these artists explore lineage, gender, and landscape through multiple mediums. We ask that this section is not only filled with contemporary artists in conversation with larger social and political landscapes, but also students of color at Bennington who are still in the process of articulating their work.
Muse: Mickalene Thomas - Photographs by 
The Fae Richards Photo Archive by 
The Black Female Body: A Photographic History by We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85: a Sourcebook by 
Lorna Simpson by 
Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats by 
Quilts of Gee's Bend by
Toni Tipton-Martin has done a significant amount of labor to archive the contributions of Black cooks to the U.S. food landscape in her book The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. Much of her work highlights the labor of black women specifically in defining mechanisms and modes of cultural and physical survival through recipes (some of which have been recorded, others of which have not).
“THE KITCHEN”
THE KITCHEN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ROOM IN MY HOME. TIS
THE PLACE FROM WHICH I DO MY THING.
I EAT IN THE KITCHEN.
WHEN FRIENDS DROP IN SOMETIMES WE NEVER LEAVE THE
KITCHEN.
I JUST DO EVERYTHING IN THE KITCHEN.
I WROTE THIS BOOK IN THE KITCHEN.
WHEN I SEW I SET UP THE SEWING MACHINE IN THE KITCHEN.
I IRON IN THE KITCHEN.
THE OTHER DAY I TRIED TO MOVE THE PIANO IN BUT COULDN’T
GET ANYONE TO HELP ME.
THE CHILDREN DO THEIR HOMEWORK IN THE KITCHEN.
SOMETIMES THERE IS SO MUCH HAPPENING IN THE KITCHEN
THAT I CAN’T GET TO THE STOVE TO COOK AND WE HAVE
TO CALL CHICKEN DELIGHT.
Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions by 
The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by 
Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals by 
The Politics of Passion: Women's Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora by 
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by 
Push: A Novel by 
The Color Purple: by 
Zami - A New Spelling of My Name by 
Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980 by 
Assata: An Autobiography by
Highlighting a diverse array of Black women’s poetic voices shows our engagement with nature, history, and language itself through bodily experience, memory, and voice. These poets engage with multiple archives--account for/address gaps--bodily, textual, recorded, oral. The array of poets in this collection do not carry a singular aesthetic, but write survival and existence of multiple poetics within a history of not being seen as poets.
To date, there are no Black lesbian anthologies of poetry. Well-known Black lesbian poets include Audre Lorde, Cheryl Clarke, and Pat Parker. While this section readily recognizes poetic foremothers from the 1960s and 1970s, we also seek to provide openings for Black queer poets. Alexis Pauline Gumbs affirms these contributions in her collection of poetry, which draws heavily upon Hortense Spillers--a writer and essayist also included in this collection. Calling back to these poets helps us find ways to expand, challenge, and speak to these writings for ourselves.
Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980 by 
Living As a Lesbian: Poetry by 
Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity by 
Black Unicorn: Poems by 
She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks by 
Thiefing Sugar: Eroticism between Women in Caribbean Literature by 
Ezili's Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders by Depending on your need, you can access our catalog in one of two different ways. If you are looking for physical items (books, DVDs, CDs, scores, etc.) accessible in either Crossett Library or Jennings Music Library, you can use the following search box. Alternatively, you can leave the box blank and click search for more search options, such as limiting your search by material type (for example, books or DVDs), by location (Crossett only, nothing from Jennings Music Library) or by language.
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