Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, edited and introduced by Margaret Busby,Tonya Bolden, "Book Review: Two Types of Revelation – Daughters of Africa", Black Enterprise, March 1993, p. 12. . who compared the process of assembling the volume to "trying to catch a flowing river in a calabash"."Introduction", Daughters of Africa, p. xxix.
First published in 1992,Kinna, "Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby", Kinna Reads, 24 September 2010. . in London by Jonathan Cape (having been commissioned by Candida Lacey,Candida Lacey, "Daughters of Africa Twenty-five years later", Wasafiri, 32(4), November 2017, pp. 7–8. . formerly of Pandora Press and later publisher of Myriad Editions),Margaret Busby, "Granddaughters of Africa", Commonwealth Writers, 19 March 2015. . and in New York by Pantheon Books, Daughters of Africa is regarded as a pioneering work,Margaret Busby profile, African Writing in Britain. ."The 2015 Bocas Henry Swanzy Award Recipient: Margaret Busby, OBE", NGC Bocas Lit Fest. . covering a variety of genres – including fiction, essays, poetry, drama, memoirs and children's writing – and more than 1000 pages in extent."Daughters of Africa", Goodreads. . Following Busby's Introduction – which opens with the Gwendolyn Brooks poem "To Black Women""Women’s Voices From Africa: A Conversation with Margaret Busby", Democracy Now!, 8 March 2006. Interviewed by Amy Goodman. – the book is arranged chronologically, beginning with traditional oral poetry,"Anthology of black women writers printed", Journal Gazette (Mattoon, Illinois), 3 December 1992, p. 19. and it includes work translated from African languages as well as from Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish."50 Books by African Women that Everyone Should Read", What's_On Africa, Royal African Society, 30 June 2014. .Meserette Kentake, "Daughters of Africa", Kentake Page, 17 December 2013. .
The anthology's title derives from an 1831 declaration by Maria W. Stewart (1803–1880), the first African-American woman to give public lectures, in which she said: "O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! awake! arise! no longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves. Show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties."Maria W. Stewart (ed. Marilyn Richardson), "Religion And The Pure Principles of Morality, The Sure Foundation On Which We Must Build", in America's First Black Woman Political Writer: Essays and Speeches, Indiana University Press, 1987, p. 30. .
A companion volume called New Daughters of Africa – with the subtitle "An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent", and featuring a further 200-plus contributors from around the world born between the 1790s and the 1990s – was published in 2019.New Daughters of Africa page at Myriad Editions. .Ellen Mitchell and Sophie Kulik, "Q&A: Margaret Busby on 'New Daughters of Africa, Africa In Words, 29 June 2019. . Associated with the anthology is the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award for a woman student from Africa.
Reception Daughters of Africa was widely praised on publication. As described by Bernardine Evaristo in The Guardian in June 2020: "Bringing together fiction, poetry, memoir and essays, both books are an incredible introduction to black women’s writing from around the world, and feature every established name you can imagine, as well those who deserve to be better known.""Books to help you escape lockdown, chosen by Hilary Mantel, Edna O'Brien and more", The Guardian, 20 June 2020.
Reviewing the anthology for Black British newspaper The Weekly Journal, Evie Arup wrote: "Daughters of Africa is a literary first. Never before has the work of women of African descent world-wide been gathered together in one volume. The breadth of this collection is startling.... This book should be required reading for any student of literature, and a standard reference book in school libraries, and, to paraphrase that well known slogan, 'every home should have one.Evie Arup, "Books: Daughters of Africa", The Weekly Journal (Issue 29), 12 November 1992, p. 15.
A reviewer from The Independent observed: "This book may seem to be about literature but in the end it is as much a testament to language: its power to create attitudes as well as its potency as a means of expression."Patricia Lee, "BOOK REVIEW / Canon to the right of them, canon to the left...", The Independent, 12 December 1992. . Described by The Observer as a "glorious fat anthology that makes a history out of a selection, and puts an unsung group of people on the map",Nicci Gerrard, "Anthologies", The Observer, 29 November 1992. according to Library Journal, it is "an invaluable text for courses on women writers and writers of African descent","Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent and from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present", Editorial Reviews, Barnes & Noble. . and Keneth Kinnamon in Callaloo saw it as "impressive", noting: "Brief headnotes and long bibliographies enhance the value of this important volume."Keneth Kinnamon, "Anthologies of African-American Literature from 1845 to 1994", in Callaloo, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring 1997), p. 468.
Lorna Sage in the Independent on Sunday concluded that "Daughters of Africa has a paradoxical universality",Lorna Sage, "Deep roots in an impossible homeland", The Sunday Review, Independent on Sunday, 3 January 1993, p. 21. while The Washington Post Book World called it: "A magnificent starting place for any reader interested in becoming part of the collective enterprise of discovering and uncovering the silent, forgotten, and underrated voices of black women.""New in Paperback", The Washington Post, 6 February 1994. .Shereen Ali, "Sharing Our Voices", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 29 April 2015. . The reviewer for Black Enterprise wrote: "It is a landmark anthology.... Busby's first-of-a-kind anthology is a poignant reminder of how vast and varied the body of black women's writing is." It has also been called "groundbreaking in its presentation and exposure of the work of female African writers",Otosirieze Obi-Young, "Margaret Busby on Why She Began the Daughters of Africa Anthology Series and Its Groundbreaking Impact", Brittle Paper, 10 March 2019. . "one of the most significant assemblages of writers across the diaspora"Carol Boyce Davies, "Women and Literature in the African Diaspora", in Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember, Ian Skoggard (eds), Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World, Volume 1, Springer Science and Business Media Inc., 2005, p. 384. and "the ultimate reference guide to the writing of 'daughters of Africa.Sharmilla Beezmohun, "Twenty-Five most influential books", Wasafiri, 19 January 2009. .
The Times Literary Supplement review by Maya Jaggi stated: "With rare exceptions, anthologies of black writing and of women's writing have given the impression that there was very little literary endeavour by black women before the 1980s. Margaret Busby's impressive and imaginative selection of 'words and writings', Daughters of Africa, finally destroys that misconception, while tracing continuities within a tradition of women's writing, deriving from Africa yet stretching across continents and centuries."Maya Jaggi, "Ain't I a woman", The Times Literary Supplement, 11 December 1992.
Jaggi goes on to say: "Some writings (such as those by ancient Egyptian or Ethiopian queens) have been selected primarily for their historical significance, or to celebrate little-known landmarks of achievement. Most, however, have been chosen for their literary qualities, making the anthology a source of continual pleasure and surprise. (...) The cumulative power of this monumental and absorbing anthology stems from the clarity and vibrancy of the voices it assembles. While effectively dismissing the equation of oppression with 'voicelessness', it restores marginalized or isolated writers to the centre of their own rich, resilient and truly international tradition."
The anthology was included in Sacred Fire: "QBR" 100 Essential Black Books,Max Rodriguez, Sacred Fire: "QBR" 100 Essential Black Books, University of Michigan, 1999. . which said: "Daughters of Africa is a monumental achievement because it is the most comprehensive international anthology of oral and written literature by women of African descent ever attempted. (...) The success of the collection is that it clearly illustrates why all women of African descent are connected by showing how closely related are the obstacles, the chasms of cultural indifference, and the disheartening racial and sexual dilemmas they faced. In so doing, the collection captures the range of their singular and combined accomplishments.
Daughters of Africa′s accomplishment lies in its glorious portrayal of the richness and magnitude of the spiritual well from which we've all drawn inspiration and to where we've all gone for sustenance, and as such, it is a stunning literary masterpiece."
The anthology was on the Royal African Society's list of "50 Books By African Women That Everyone Should Read","50 Books by African Women That Everyone Should Read", What's On Africa, Africa Writes – RAS, 30 June 2014. . was named by Ms Afropolitan as one of "7 non-fiction books African feminists should read",Minna Salami, "7 non-fiction books African feminists should read", Ms Afropolitan, 27 September 2015. . features regularly on many required-reading lists,Sandra E. Gibbs, "National African American Read-In", Supplemental List for Young Adults and Adults, Recommended by Black Caucus Members. Retrieved 30 October 2024.Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, "The feminist books that inspired us – Part 1", This Is Africa, 24 February 2015."Thinking of Travel: Armchair and Otherwise", BlackPast.org, 2 August 2012. .Yinka Sunmonu, "Bookshelf: A Cultural Collection", The Voice, 26 December 2015. ."Women’s Classic Literature Event Questionnaire", A Canon Of One's Own, 18 March 2016. . and, although now out of print, in the words of Kinna Likimani: "It remains the ultimate guide to women writers of African descent."
Contributors More than 200 women are featured in Daughters of Africa, including:
Opal Palmer Adisa Abena Adomako Ama Ata Aidoo Grace Akello Zaynab Alkali Ifi Amadiume Maya Angelou Red Jordan ArobateauRed Jordan Arobateau, The Rich/The Poor In Spirit - New Edition, 2013, p. 249. Iola Ashundie Mariama Bâ Baba Toni Cade Bambara Valerie Belgrave Gwendolyn B. Bennett Louise Bennett Julia Berger Eulalia BernardIan I. Smart, "Eulalia Bernard: A Caribbean Woman Writer and the Dynamics of Liberation", Letras Femeninas, Vol. 13, No. 1/2 (1987), pp. 79–85. . Ayse Bircan"Tales of Travel, Daughters of Africa", ICA talks. British Library. .Annette Madden, "Ayse Bircan: Turkish activist", In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah, Berkeley, California: Conari Press, 2000, pp. 56–57. . Becky Birtha Valerie Bloom Marita Bonner Dionne Brand Jean Binta Breeze Virginia Brindis de Salas Erna Brodber Gwendolyn Brooks Barbara Burford"Barbara Burford", Goodreads. Annie L. Burton Abena Busia"Busia, Abena", Department of Women's and Gender Studies, Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. . Dinah Anuli ButlerDinah Anuli Butler, "To My Father", Representation Matters, 6 November 2016. . Octavia E. Butler Joan Cambridge"Clarise Cumberbatch Want to go Home by Joan Cambridge", Books do furnish a room, 31 August 2015. . Aída Cartagena Portalatín Adelaide Casely-Hayford Gladys Casely-Hayford Marie Chauvet Alice Childress Michelle Cliff Lucille Clifton Merle Collins Maryse Condé Anna Julia Cooper J. California Cooper Jayne Cortez Christine Craig