THE SISTERHOOD

How a group of Black feminists created a model for advocacy.

Thorsson, an English professor and “white woman scholar of African American literature,” offers a richly detailed account of a group of about 30 Black women who called themselves The Sisterhood. From 1977 to 1979, they met regularly at least once per month, kept minutes, collected dues, and worked to secure “publication, publicity, and recognition for Black women writers.” Co-founded by novelist Alice Walker and poet June Jordan, both already well-known writers, the group arose from a general despondency, in the early 1970s, over the failure of civil rights activism, as well as a personal need for a place where Black women intellectuals and activists could find common ground. Members included poets, playwrights (Ntozake Shange), novelists (Toni Morrison), editors, scholars, academics, journalists (Margo Jefferson), and critics. In an appendix, the author offers concise biographies of each woman who attended, however briefly. The Sisterhood’s efforts, Thorsson asserts, led to a burgeoning of Black women’s writing in magazines such as Essenceand Ms., which the group especially targeted, and in trade publishing. Moreover, they laid the foundation for Black feminist scholarship in colleges and universities. The group dissolved partly because of its success: With new opportunities—and pressures of day jobs, family, and creative work—some members found it hard to find time to meet each month. There was also dissent about the purpose of the group, with some younger members frustrated that the goals, and even the meaning of Black feminism, were not shared. Some members sensed a “pecking order” determined by age and career stage, which made others feel unwelcome. Even after The Sisterhood stopped meeting formally, Thorsson reveals, friendships among members provided moral and practical support, and its influence persisted by building “a cultural landscape of magazines, publishers, general readers, students, and teachers who were ready for their books.”

A well-documented contribution to Black literary history.