BESTOWING PRAISE AND ASSESSING BLAME: RECENT WORK IN BLACK WOMENÍS STUDIES

A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America. By Darlene Clark Hine and Kathleen Thompson. New York: Broadway Books, 1998. 355 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. $27.50.

Double Burden: Black Women and Everyday Racism. By Yanick St. Jean and Joe R. Feagin. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1998. xiii + 252 pp. Bibliographic references and index. $35.00.

Chana Kai Lee
Indiana University

Not surprising, in the late 1990s, scholars of the marginalized are still sounding the clarion call for greater inclusiveness in mainstream historical narratives and contemporary social analyses: Genuine diversity still comes too infrequently or not at all. With vigor and high-minded purpose, the authors of A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America and Double Burden: Black Women and Everyday Racism center our attention on the substance of black women's experiences, past and present. Ultimately, both books provide more material for meaningful discussion about the unasked and unanswered questions that remain for the field.