Presents the personal testimonies of contemporary Black women who illuminate the complexities of their lives, offering reflections on family, work, intimacy, politics, violation, and recovery

It was not unusual for young women of the late Victorian era to take to art with a passion and flamboyance that brought them either fame or notoriety, and sometimes both. One such artist was Eulabee Dix (1878-1961), a leading miniaturist of the American revival period at the turn of the century. A fascinating and determined woman, Eulabee painted "in little" but was larger than life. The artist's memoirs, her family's recollections, and letters to her from John Butler Yeats, energize and balance this biography of a woman whose blazing talent was joined to a personality that sometimes defied understanding. She painted the last portrait of Mark Twain from life, as well as miniatures of Ethel Barrymore, the Countess of Warwick and her titled friends, and Hollywood and New York luminaries of social, artistic, and literary prominence. Eulabee's exquisite color sense and brushwork are seen today in the collection of her work at The National Museum of Women in the Arts, and in miniature collections at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Worcester Art Museum. A great beauty herself, Eulabee was painted by other artists, including her friends Robert Henri, John Sloan, and Charles Hawthorne, and she was photographed by Gertrude Kasebier. These acclaimed works and her own beautiful miniatures illustrate the life of a woman dedicated to preserving an art form that had endured since the Middle Ages.

Recounts the life of the Communist revolutionary Olga Benario, who was imprisoned in Brazil and deported to Germany, where she died in a Nazi death camp in 1942. Reprint.

The daughter of a Scottish soldier and a Jamaican herbalist, Mary Seacole (1805 81) gained recognition for her provision of care to British troops during the Crimean War. She had travelled widely in the Caribbean and Panama before venturing to England to volunteer as an army nurse in the Crimea. Although rebuffed by officials, an undeterred Seacole funded her own expedition, establishing the British Hotel near Balaclava to provide a refuge for wounded officers. Known affectionately as 'Mother Seacole' among the men, yet returning to England bankrupt at the end of hostilities, she had her plight highlighted in the press. First published in 1857, and reissued here in its 1858 printing, her autobiography was intended to share her story and restore to her some financial security. Probably dictated to her editor, who then polished the text for publication, this was the first autobiography by a black woman in Britain."

Collections of interviews with notable modern writers

A striking portrait of a woman artist's struggle for life. --Arthur Miller