Harare Review of Books

296 pages.

First published Nov 7, 2023 (Columbia University Press)

Non-fiction.

Thorsson’s accessible book explores the story behind a 1977 photograph of nine Black women posed in front of a portrait of a tenth:

[Evelyn] White’s caption describes the photo this way: “A group of black women writers in New York who met informally during the 1970s. Back row, left to right: Verta Mae Grosvenor, Alice Walker, Lori Sharpe, Bessie Smith, Toni Morrison, June Jordan. Seated, left to right: Nana Maynard, Ntozake Shange, Audrey Edwards.”
[Alice] Walker knew this group was important enough to go back later and make sure that all the names of the women were on the back of the photo.
More than a decade after first holding “The Sisterhood, 1977” in my hands, I learned that the purple writing on the back had misidentified Audreen Ballard as Audrey Edwards. Both women were in the group and both were important journalists, editors, and activists, but Ballard is the one in the photo.

The woman in the portrait on the wall is Bessie Smith. The group of women in the photograph are the Sisterhood in question, and in this book, Thorsson has done the crucial work of excavating and recovering the history of these important women of letters, who changed literature and academia, and who were (and continue to be) pivotal in activism and Black feminism.

Although it feels quite repetitive in parts (perhaps in an attempt to make the same points over and over), The Sisterhood is an important record of what the Sisterhood was, and the work it did. Some of these women were or went on to become famous (Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange), but others are beginning to be forgotten outside of rarefied circles. Arguably, the Sisterhood laid the foundation for the current success of African American literature in academia (pedagogy) and popular culture, and The Sisterhood rightly remembers, honours and celebrates them. Highly recommended, for everyone.

Thank you to Thorsson for expanding my knowledge of these women and their work; my copy of the book is almost completely highlights. Thanks, too, to NetGalley and to Columbia University Press for access.