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by Clenora Hudson (Weems) (Author)
Elevating Humanity via Africana Womanism is a short, but powerful book, advocating synergy via unity/collectivity as a panacea for all societal ills. It discusses the Africana Womanism theory - an authentic family centered concept for all women of African descent - as a grid upon which to erect the private and public personae of all positive Africana people. Within the context of our cultural and historical matrix, it opens with defining the paradigm, while promoting the importance of prioritizing race, class and gender, the triple plight of Black women. A workable strategy for ensuring equality for all, it closes on a note of love and spirituality, while embracing the special connection between Africana men and women, the 2-sided human coin.
This introduction logically and convincingly speaks truth to power about who we, Black women are, beginning, in Part One, with naming and defining ourselves, with the foreknowledge of the seminal role of our male counterparts. It identifies the 18 descriptors of the true Africana woman and her male counterpart. Part Two offers fruitful commentary, via sharing some of the many contributions we have given to society, which could enhance self-esteem among our people, many of whom have come to not love themselves and even their own, due to inadequate historical documentation.
Author Biography
Clenora Hudson (Weems) is a Professor, Theorist, Film Writer, and an Honored Listee in Marquis Who's Who 2024. She is the author of six books on Africana Women and 4 on Emmett Till, having established him as catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement in her 1988 dissertation. She is editor of Africana-Melanated Womanism: In It Together(2002); Africana Paradigms, Practices & Literary Texts: Evoking Social Justice (2021); Physical and Intellectual Lynchings: An Emmett Till Continuum (2007); and Contemporary Africana Theory, Thought & Action: A Guide to Africana Studies (2007). She is the recipient of the Ford and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships and, with her co-author, the 1998 Toni Morrison Society National Book Award. She was an Ida Beam Distinguished V. Professor, U of Iowa, AAS, delivering the Keynote Address "Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison as Model Africana Womanist Artivist for Social Justice" for its 50th Anniversary.
