Nine Black Women features the writing of Elizabeth Hart Thwaites, Anne Hart Gilbert, Mary Price, Mary Seacole, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Harriet E. Adams Wilson, Jarena Lee, Nancy Gardner Prince and Mary Ann Shadd Cary, black women who had writing published in the 1800s. Many of them wrote about slavery and promoted abolition, some wrote religious texts that expressed their views, others wrote autobiographies telling of their battle to overcome prejudice and disadvantage.

While I struggled with the writing style of the time, particularly the very religious texts of the Harts, this is a fascinating glimpse of black women's lives, their strength and inspiring passion. Much of it is similar to the writing of white British women of the time - religion was often the path to education and gave women the chance to spread anti-slavery thoughts through religious tracts. But the women in this book also forged their own paths. Mary Seacole made her way independently to the Crimea and Mary Ann Shadd Cary became North America's first black female newspaper publisher, unfraid to hold very strong views about the emigration of America blacks to Africa and the Caribbean that were often contrary to those of celebrated activists such as Frederick Douglass.

Although this anthology was published in 1998, it still feels important to me. These women and their contemporaries were barely touched on during the Modern British Women's History masters course I followed a couple of years ago. Many of these women were still British, or had been until recently, and I think it's a serious omission that we didn't spend more time learning about them. ( )