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African American Women Speak Out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas Edited by Geneva Smitherman

When Anita Hill reluctantly appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1991 charging that Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her, she did more that force the re-opening of Thomas' Senate confirmation hearing. Her allegation was also the catalyst for what would become a unique and extraordinarily complex moment in U.S. history—immediate and wide-ranging debate and discussion across racial, gender, and class lines about gender issues in the workplace, sexual stereotypes, white male political hegemony, and the tensions of class and race in the U.S. women's movement. Though central to the controversy, the voices of African American women could barely be heard. African American Women Speak Out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas contains reflections as well as in-depth analyses by African American women scholars and writers on the confrontation and its broader meaning for the African American community.

The Circling of the Wagons: The Odyssey of Anita Hill—Harriette Pipes McAdoo For Pleasure, Profit, and Power: The Sexual Exploitation of Black Women—Darlene Clark Hine Observations of a Journalist on the Wretched Spectacle— Susan Watson High-Tech Lynching on Capitol Hill: Oral Narratives from African American Women—Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis plus 17 other essays, along with the statements of Hill and Thomas to the Senate Judiciary Comittee.

African American Life Series $21.95s paper / ISBN 0-8143-2530-0 278 pages 2 illustrations 1995