Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America - Charisse Jones

Based on the African American Women's Voices Project designed and implemented by the authors, this important and compelling book reveals that a huge number of African-American women feel pressure to compromise their true selves in order to fit into American society. Based on the African American Women's Voices Project, Shifting reveals that a large number of African American women feel pressure to com-promise their true selves as they navigate America's racial and gender bigotry. Black women shift by altering the expectations they have for themselves or their outer appearance. They modify their speech. They shift White as they head to work in the morning and Black as they come back home each night. They shift inward, internalizing the searing pain of the negative stereotypes that they encounter daily. And sometimes they shift by fighting back. With deeply moving interviews, poignantly revealed on each page, Shifting is a much-needed, clear, and comprehensive portrait of the reality of African American women's lives today.