Autobiographies by Americans of color, 1980-1994: an annotated bibliography

Published in 1997, this book sets out to provide a comprehensive annotated listing of all publications falling within the broad definition of autobiography by Americans of Color. This means Americans whose origins are not strictly European. Included in this bibliography are the writings of professional writers, beauticians and barbers, athletes, scholars, civil rights workers, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, and brothers. In the introduction I wrote: "We are experiencing, in this decade of the nineties, a political backlash against, an open hostility toward differences of race, socio-economic status, and issues of gender and sexual preference. We need more than ever to understand each other, to have insight into the experiences of all citizens of this country ....These life stories provide all readers with a broad, and perhaps truer sense of U.S. history than it is possible to obtain from a text book or scholarly journal." While there has been much more published on multicultural America since 1997 (see the companion volume 1995-2000 for instance), my comments about the state of our lack of social unity and inability to speak across experiences and cultural backgrounds holds true. The importance of these stories to narrate the history of this country continues.