Stephanie J. Shaw takes us into the inner world of American black professional women during the Jim Crow era. This is a story of struggle and empowerment, of the strength of a group of women who worked against daunting odds to improve the world for themselves and their people. Shaw's remarkable research into the lives of social workers, librarians, nurses, and teachers from the 1870s through the 1950s allows us to hear these women's voices for the first time. The women tell us, in their own words, about their families, their values, their expectations. We learn of the forces and factors that made them exceptional, and of the choices and commitments that made them leaders in their communities. What a Woman Ought to Be and to Do brings to life a world in which African-American families, communities, and schools worked to encourage the self-confidence, individual initiative, and social responsibility of girls. Shaw shows us how, in a society that denied black women full professional status, these girls embraced and in turn defined an ideal of "socially responsible individualism" that balanced private and public sphere responsibilities. A collective portrait of character shaped in the toughest circumstances, this book is more than a study of the socialization of these women as children and the organization of their work as adults. It is also a study of leadership—of how African American communities gave their daughters the power to succeed in and change a hostile world.

Originally published in 1898, this work contains some valuable advice for young women. The author brilliantly explains the truths of life to a girl entering puberty. Moreover, there are tips for behavior, education, and friendships. Some suggestions in the book might seem outdated, but most of them are timeless and helpful.

How do I know it's God? is one of the most commonly asked questions of new and mature Christians alike, and the aim of God Conversations is to both equip and inspire the reader and show them that hearing the voice of the Spirit is accessible to everyone who chooses to follow Jesus. Most Christians know that God speaks, yet struggle with how to recognise his voice in their everyday lives. What does God's voice sound like? How do we know if what we're hearing is from God? Stories of God talking to his people abound throughout the Bible, but we usually only get the highlights. We read; "And God said to Joseph; 'Go to Egypt'," and then; "Mary and Joseph left for Egypt." We don't get a blow-by-blow description of how God spoke. We don't receive a detailed explanation of how they knew it was God, and we don't get to see what was going on inside their heads as they acted on what they'd heard. In God Conversations, international speaker and pastor Tania Harris shares insights from her own journey about hearing God's voice. You'll get to eavesdrop on some contemporary conversations with God in the light of his communication with the ancient characters of the Bible. Part memoir, part teaching, this unique and creative collection of stories will help you to recognise God's voice when he speaks and how to respond when you do.

A collection of feminist essays steeped in “Solnit’s unapologetically observant and truth-speaking voice on toxic, violent masculinity” (The Los Angeles Review). In a timely and incisive follow-up to her national bestseller Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit offers sharp commentary on women who refuse to be silenced, misogynistic violence, the fragile masculinity of the literary canon, the gender binary, the recent history of rape jokes, and much more. In characteristic style, “Solnit draw[s] anecdotes of female indignity or male aggression from history, social media, literature, popular culture, and the news . . . The main essay in the book is about the various ways that women are silenced, and Solnit focuses upon the power of storytelling—the way that who gets to speak, and about what, shapes how a society understands itself and what it expects from its members. The Mother of All Questions poses the thesis that telling women’s stories to the world will change the way that the world treats women, and it sets out to tell as many of those stories as possible” (The New Yorker). “There’s a new feminist revolution—open to people of all genders—brewing right now and Rebecca Solnit is one of its most powerful, not to mention beguiling, voices.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times–bestselling author of Natural Causes “Short, incisive essays that pack a powerful punch.” —Publishers Weekly “A keen and timely commentary on gender and feminism. Solnit’s voice is calm, clear, and unapologetic; each essay balances a warm wit with confident, thoughtful analysis, resulting in a collection that is as enjoyable and accessible as it is incisive.” —Booklist

In this book the authors explore some dynamic trends in society and church that are pushing believers into simpler ways of doing church. -- from back cover.

Excerpt from The Woman's Book: Contains Everything a Woman Ought to Know We have done our best to provide a Reference Book dealing with all subjects of special interest to women. A glance at the Contents will show how varied a list it is. And now that our work is finished and we look back on the book as a whole, thoughts about women's work in general force themselves upon us. Our work would have been mechanically done if they did not. We have noted the variety of the work undertaken by women. It is matter for congratulation that so many new spheres of usefulness have been opened for women within recent years but we look forward to the time when capacity for work will be the only test of competence to undertake it. To have the work well done - that is the end to be aimed at, whether it be done by men or by women. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

'I am a woman's rights. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I am as strong as any man that is now' A former slave and one of the most powerful orators of her time, Sojourner Truth fought for the equal rights of Black women throughout her life. This selection of her impassioned speeches is accompanied by the words of other inspiring African-American female campaigners from the nineteenth century. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.