Category: Women’s Studies

Class Interruptions: The Wrong Side of The Tracks

Happy Women’s History Month! Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.”… Continue Reading Class Interruptions: The Wrong Side of The Tracks

Black History Month 2022 Reading List: The Black International Experience

In celebration of Black History Month, we’ve chosen to publish a new reading list every week featuring only Black authors. The first reading list covered Black resistance, the second covered the Black American experience, the third covered biographies and this week’s reading list centers the Black international experience. While we may not all live in the same area of the world, many… Continue Reading Black History Month 2022 Reading List: The Black International Experience

Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Biographies

In celebration of Black History Month, we’ve chosen to publish a new reading list every week featuring only Black authors. The first reading list covered Black Resistance, the second covered the Black American experience and this week’s reading list centers biographies; telling the stories of a few vastly different lives lived under the Black identity umbrella. As mentioned in the… Continue Reading Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Biographies

Reimagining Africa: How Black Women Invented the Language of Soul in the 1950s

The following is an excerpt from Tanisha C. Ford’s Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul. From the civil rights and Black Power era of the 1960s through antiapartheid activism in the 1980s and beyond, black women have used their clothing, hair, and style not simply as a fashion statement but as a powerful tool of… Continue Reading Reimagining Africa: How Black Women Invented the Language of Soul in the 1950s

Hot Off The Press: February 2022

We’re publishing some great books this month! Read below to learn more about these exceptional titles. Don’t forget to enter code 01DAH40 at checkout for some savings! You can save 40% on ALL UNC Press print books and if your order totals $75 or more, the shipping is FREE! Published: CLASS INTERRUPTIONS: INEQUALITY AND DIVISION IN AFRICAN DIASPORIC WOMEN’S FICTION… Continue Reading Hot Off The Press: February 2022

Black History Month 2022 Reading List: The Black American Experience

Earlier this month, we published the first of our weekly Black History Month reading lists, focused on Black Resistance. This week’s reading list centers the Black American experience and it consists of books written by black authors who touch on a few of the various and infinite lived occurrences we share as Black people in America. We are not a… Continue Reading Black History Month 2022 Reading List: The Black American Experience

Left of Black web series featuring award-winning author and historian Tanisha C. Ford

In 2016, Tanisha C. Ford, author of Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul was featured on John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute’s Left of Black web series. Left of Black is a web series featuring interviews with Black Studies scholars created and hosted by James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies Mark Anthony Neal. In this… Continue Reading Left of Black web series featuring award-winning author and historian Tanisha C. Ford

Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Black Resistance

As you may already now, February is Black History Month. The history of black people should be celebrated at all times, but in February, we shine an extra special light on it. Black History Month began as Negro History Week in February 1926, created by historian Carter G. Woodson. In 1976, the celebration was expanded to a month. We’ll be… Continue Reading Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Black Resistance

Creating Consumers: Envisioning the Rational Consumer, 1900–1920

The following is an excerpt from Carolyn M. Goldstein’s Creating Consumers: Home Economists in Twentieth-Century America. Home economics emerged at the turn of the twentieth century as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers. At the same moment, American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced. To guide women in this… Continue Reading Creating Consumers: Envisioning the Rational Consumer, 1900–1920

National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

January 6th marks National Technology Day. Technology has been a huge stepping stone in the advancement of so many cultures. From the technology we use in our everyday lives to NASA’s own technology used for space exploration, it’s always been closely connected to the overall progress of America. In celebration of National Technology Day, we’re sharing a recommended reading list… Continue Reading National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

2022 American Historical Association Annual Meeting

Due to continued concerns surrounding travel and the coronavirus, UNC Press has decided to no longer exhibit in-person at AHA 2022. While we are disappointed to miss this opportunity to see you all at our booth, we hope you’ll take the time to visit our virtual booth. And we hope to see you at AHA 2023! At our virtual booth… Continue Reading 2022 American Historical Association Annual Meeting

Feminism for the Americas: A New Force in the History of the World

The following is an excerpt from Katherine M. Marino’s Feminism for the Americas: The Making of an International Human Rights Movement. This book chronicles the dawn of the global movement for women’s rights in the first decades of the twentieth century. The founding mothers of this movement were not based primarily in the United States, however, or in Europe. Instead,… Continue Reading Feminism for the Americas: A New Force in the History of the World

Universal Human Rights Month: A Recommended Reading List

Nobody’s free until everybody’s free. Fannie Lou Hamer December marks the annual celebration of Universal Human Rights Month. The observance of this month began in 1948 when the U.N. wrote a document called The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document was created after World War II and was used to “properly define what human rights would be protected universally”.… Continue Reading Universal Human Rights Month: A Recommended Reading List

Happy Rosa Parks Day: A Recommended Reading List

December 1st, 1955, marks the day civil rights activist Rosa Parks rejected a bus driver’s order, in Montgomery, Alabama, to give up her seat in the “colored” section of the bus to a white passenger, after the whites-only section had already been filled. She was then arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation. However, Rosa Parks was able… Continue Reading Happy Rosa Parks Day: A Recommended Reading List

Remaking Black Power: The Militant Negro Domestic, 1945–1965

The following is an excerpt from Ashley D. Farmer’s Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era. In this comprehensive history, Ashley D. Farmer examines black women’s political, social, and cultural engagement with Black Power ideals and organizations. Complicating the assumption that sexism relegated black women to the margins of the movement, Farmer demonstrates how female activists fought for… Continue Reading Remaking Black Power: The Militant Negro Domestic, 1945–1965

The Souls of Womenfolk: The Birth of the Enslaved Female Soul

The following is an excerpt from Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh’s The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South. This excerpt was taken from chapter one of The Souls of Womenfolk entitled “Georgia Genesis: The Birth of the Enslaved Female Soul”. Wells-Oghoghomeh’s book was also selected as one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2021 in the Religion/Spirituality category. Beginning on the shores… Continue Reading The Souls of Womenfolk: The Birth of the Enslaved Female Soul

Three UNC Press titles win American Historical Association 2021 Prizes!

Congratulations to these UNC Press titles who were American Historical Association 2021 Prize Winners! The AHA offers annual prizes honoring exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Since 1896, the Association has conferred over 1,000 awards. This year’s finalists were selected from a field of over 1,400 entries by nearly 150 dedicated… Continue Reading Three UNC Press titles win American Historical Association 2021 Prizes!

The Evolution of an Ideal: Servicewomen and Equality in the U.S. Military

The following is a guest blog post by Tanya L. Roth, author of Her Cold War: Women in the U.S. Military, 1945–1980. The 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act created permanent military positions for women with the promise of equal pay. Her Cold War follows the experiences of women in the military from the passage of the Act to the early 1980s. Her… Continue Reading The Evolution of an Ideal: Servicewomen and Equality in the U.S. Military

2021 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Meeting

It’s the first weekend of the National Women’s Studies Association virtual annual meeting. We hope you’ll visit our NWSA 2021 virtual booth to browse our new and recent titles, to connect with editor Mark Simpson-Vos, and to learn more about our Gender and American Culture series. New Titles in Women and Gender History from UNC Press Afropolitan Projects: Redefining Blackness, Sexualities, and Culture from Houston… Continue Reading 2021 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Meeting

Workers’ Rights: A Reading List

Yesterday was Labor Day, “a federal holiday that recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States.” The very first Labor Day was celebrated in 1882, but, as many of you may know, we’re still fighting for a living wage for all, better working conditions and effective, well-protected workers’ rights. Below are some recommended… Continue Reading Workers’ Rights: A Reading List