title: Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists
author: Jontyle Theresa Robinson
description: Atlanta's Spelman College commemorates 115 years of educating black women and the opening of its Museum of Fine Arts with this catalog for a traveling exhibition of masterworks in every medium by living African American women. From Faith Ringgold and Betye and Alison Saar to Lorna Simpson and Carrie Mae Weems, the 25 artists are as notable as the catalog's nine contributors. Maya Angelou's foreword is followed by essays addressing the often-overlooked influence of African American women artists on the nation's aesthetics and cultural history by prominent curators and academics. Disappointingly, color reproductions are generally small and used sparingly, but overall, this slender volume packs a major wallop and is recommended for art and academic collections.?Russell T. Clement, Univ. of Tennessee Lib., Knoxville<br />Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  _J EWELS CELEBRATES THE SPIRIT AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF MATURE AFRICAN AMERICAN
  WOMEN._
  
  
  **P** **HOTOGRAPHER MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM** (coauthor of Crowns) and author
  Connie Briscoe, a _New York Times_ bestselling novelist, profile fifty women
  over the age of fifty who have been remarkably successful—whether in reaching
  the
  
  
  top of the corporate ladder, finding fame in politics or the arts, or raising
  a son to be proud of a single mother—and reveal
  
  
  the ways that they have prevailed despite daunting obstacles. Their stories
  are paired with Cunningham’s intimate portraits
  
  
  of the women.
  
  
  
  
  
  _Jewels_ includes well-known and little-known women alike—from teachers and
  executives to artists, authors, and entertainers. Among
  
  
  the celebrities profiled in the book are Ruby Dee, Eleanor Holmes Norton, S.
  Epatha Merkerson, and Marian Wright Edelman.
  
  
  Coauthor Connie Briscoe also appears here as one of the featured Jewels,
  telling her inspiring personal story. World-renowned
  
  
  poet