Noelle Hurd, University of Virginia

When it comes to how deeply embedded racism is in American society, blacks and whites have sharply different views.

For instance, 70 percent of whites believe that individual discrimination is a bigger problem than discrimination built into the nation’s laws and institutions. Only 48 percent of blacks believe that is true.

Many blacks and whites also fail to see eye to eye regarding the use of blackface, which dominated the news cycle during the early part of 2019 due to a series of scandals that involve the highest elected leaders in Virginia, where I teach.

The donning of blackface happens throughout the country, particularly on college campuses. Recent polls indicate that 42 percent of white American adults either think blackface is acceptable or are uncertain as to whether it is.

One of the most recent blackface scandals has involved Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, whose yearbook page from medical school features someone in blackface standing alongside another person dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe. Northam has denied being either person. The more Northam has tried to defend his past actions, the clearer it has become to me how little he appears to know about fundamental aspects of American history, such as slavery. For instance, Northam referred to Virginia’s earliest slaves as “indentured servants”. His ignorance has led to greater scrutiny of how he managed to ascend to the highest leadership position in a racially diverse state with such a profound history of racism and white supremacy.

Just as Black history is American history, so too is Women’s history. Just as the “African American” section of the bookstore is as infuriating as it is necessary, so too is the Chick Lit genre and the “Women’s” section. They serve the purpose of highlighting writers, ideas, points of view, and histories that sadly might go unknown, unexplored, or underappreciated otherwise.

In celebration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite women writers. Some are well-known, some less so but all are deserving of their turn in the spotlight. We invite you to turn the page!

1. Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage

Pauli Murray and Patricia Bell-Scott

Paperback: 624 pages

Publisher: Liveright

ISBN-10: 1631494589

Although she is relatively unknown today—despite a rich, fascinating life---there are a decent handful of biographies to choose from if you are interested in learning about Pauli Murray. Born in Baltimore in 1910, and raised in Durham, North Carolina, Murray, the first African American woman to receive a Doctor of Law at Yale, a poet, a social activist, a confidante of Eleanor Roosevelt and Thurgood Marshall, tells her own tale in this hefty memoir. It is a lyrical, powerful story.