Beyond Negritude ― Essays from Woman in the City

Paulette Nardal was an educated woman from Martinique, fluent in French and English, who was very much involved in intellectual life in Paris between the wars. In this lovely dual-language edition, Sharpley-Whiting (African American and Diaspora studies and French, Vanderbilt University) has translated and annotated essays Nardal published after her return to Martinique after World War II and the end of the Vichy government there. Among her many causes, Nardal believed in the education of women. She believed that it was not enough to have the vote, one must exercise it. Her concern with the rights of women was only part of her commitment to human rights and equality for people of all races. These short articles would be perfect for high school classes. Nardal would have wanted her message to reach students as early in their education as possible. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting is Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and Professor of French at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of several books, including Negritude Women and the Emily Toth Award–winning Pimps Up, Ho’s Down: Hip Hop’s Hold on Young Black Women, and the editor of The Speech: Race and Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union.”