Black Women's Life Writing in the United States

Since Jarena Lee published her autobiography in 1836, Black women’s life writing in the United States has developed into an ever-growing public collection of memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies written by Black women. Adopting a biographical lens allows a level of intimacy that opens new avenues for exploring the value of Black women’s lives for their own sake as well as for their contributions to the nation. Before the recent increase in biographies written by Black women as scholarly reclamation projects and labors of love for their peers, this genre had been mostly overlooked by readers without a pre-existing interest in Black women’s lives. Notably, the emergence of the Black Women’s Biography Collective in 2021 marks a key moment in the evolution of Black women’s life writing. This essay explores the history of Black women’s life writing and points to new directions on the horizon for this expanding subfield.