This list began as a brainstorming project on the Radical Reference email list. The original questioner wrote:
[T]here is a new group forming at my college that is a support group for disadvantaged women students (women students in general). They are organizing activities and speakers to empower and offer leadership experience for women who have it pretty tough and might be struggling to get through school. . . many of the students involved are minorities with low literacy levels due to the horrendous school system here.
I would like to get the library involved by putting together a list of books of interest for them. I'm looking for books about women who have persevered, feminist books, books about minority women... the catch is the reading level needs to be from high school to early undergraduate but not much higher if possible. Hoping for unique and interesting books with a radical slant to give a new perspective. I have a small list going, but wanted to see if there were any other suggestions.
Here are some of the suggestions Rad Reffies came up with:
Color Me Flo: My Life & Good Times by Flo Kennedy
She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll by Gillian G. Gaar
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf
Women and Guerrilla Movements: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Cuba by Karen Kampwirth [ebook]
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, & Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis
Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader edited by Gabriela F. Arredondo et al.
Feminist Theory From Margin to Center by bell hooks
Fight Like a Girl -- and Win: Defense Decisions for Women by Lori Hartman Gervasi
Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution by Sara Marcus
In Our Time: A Memoir of Revolution, Feminity, and Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape by Susan Brownmiller
Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant by Andrea Dworkin
Bitchfest: 10 Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine edited by Lisa Miya-Jervis et al.
Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women by Vikki Law
Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground by Maria Raha
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi [graphic novel]
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art and Bitches, Bimbos, and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls Guide to Female Stereotypes by Guerrilla Girls
Color of violence : the Incite! anthology by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
A great resource for feminist children's and YA titles is the Amelia Bloomer project of the Feminist Task Force of SRRT/ALA.
Here are the titles in a handy spreadsheet:
