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Hine Sight: Black Women and the Re-Construction of American History
"The history of African American women has become an important topic in the intellectual life of this country in the last fifteen years; and Darlene Clark Hine has been one of those most responsible for bringing the subject to its current level of importance." ―from the Foreword by John Hope Franklin
"In this absolutely needed collection of essays by one of the leading American historians of our generation, the richly intertwined community-making and self-making that shaped the historical experience of African American women shines out like a beacon." ―Susan M. Reverby, Luella LaMer Associate Professor for Women's Studies, Wellesley College
"In this absolutely needed collection of essays by one of the leading American historians of our generation, the richly intertwined community-making and self-making that shaped the historical experience of African American women shines out like a beacon." ―Susan M. Reverby, Luella LaMer Associate Professor for Women's Studies, Wellesley College
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 7, 2026
Hine Sight is one of those rare collections that doesn't just inform you it moves you. Darlene Clark Hine brings together 14 essays that collectively restore the voices of Black women who have been too long pushed to the margins of American history, and the emotional weight of that restoration is profound.
From the quiet, courageous resistance of enslaved women to the Great Migration that reshaped the urban Midwest, Hine writes with both scholarly rigor and a deep humanity that you can feel on every page. Reading about 19th-century Black women physicians women who fought for their place in medicine against compounding barriers of race and gender left me genuinely moved and in awe.
What struck me most is how personal this history feels, even across centuries. These aren't dusty footnotes; they're stories of survival, ambition, and dignity that resonate deeply today. Hine has a gift for making you feel the stakes of this history, not just understand them.
From the quiet, courageous resistance of enslaved women to the Great Migration that reshaped the urban Midwest, Hine writes with both scholarly rigor and a deep humanity that you can feel on every page. Reading about 19th-century Black women physicians women who fought for their place in medicine against compounding barriers of race and gender left me genuinely moved and in awe.
What struck me most is how personal this history feels, even across centuries. These aren't dusty footnotes; they're stories of survival, ambition, and dignity that resonate deeply today. Hine has a gift for making you feel the stakes of this history, not just understand them.
December 2, 2017
Have read all of the parts that are pertinent to my current work. More later!
April 14, 2014
So little documentation has been available on women of color. Darlene Clark Hine began to give voice to women too long silent. This quote in her introduction says it so well ...
"For almost two decades I traveled along two winding paths, Black history and women's history, searching for the intersections where race and gender met, in order to construct a history of Black women."
A compilation of essays developed over time, this book is filled with gems for those of us who grew up in the 60s. She arrived at Kent State the same year I did. It changed both of us.
I end this with a final quote from her Introduction:
"Black women's history compels the individual to come to grips more completely with all of the components of identity. Through the study of Black women it becomes increasingly obvious how historians shape, make or construct history and why we omit, ignore and sometimes distort the lives of people on the margins."
"For almost two decades I traveled along two winding paths, Black history and women's history, searching for the intersections where race and gender met, in order to construct a history of Black women."
A compilation of essays developed over time, this book is filled with gems for those of us who grew up in the 60s. She arrived at Kent State the same year I did. It changed both of us.
I end this with a final quote from her Introduction:
"Black women's history compels the individual to come to grips more completely with all of the components of identity. Through the study of Black women it becomes increasingly obvious how historians shape, make or construct history and why we omit, ignore and sometimes distort the lives of people on the margins."
August 18, 2010
good essays, but the title? really?
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews