Hortense Spillers facts for kids

Hortense J. Spillers, born on April 24, 1942, is an American literary critic and a respected scholar. She is known for her important work on African-American literature and culture. Currently, she is a professor at Vanderbilt University. Her essays, which explore topics like race, gender, and identity, have been collected in books such as Black, White, and In Color and Comparative American Identities.

Early Life and Education

Hortense Spillers earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), from the University of Memphis in 1964. She continued her studies there, getting her Master of Arts (M.A.) in 1966. Later, she completed her Ph.D. in English at Brandeis University in 1974. During her time at the University of Memphis, she even worked as a disc jockey for a radio station called WDIA.

Teaching and Recognition

Throughout her career, Professor Spillers has taught at several well-known colleges and universities. These include Haverford College, Wellesley College, Emory University, and Cornell University. Her valuable work has been recognized with awards from important groups like the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. In 2013, she helped start a scholarly journal called The A-Line Journal, A Journal of Progressive Commentary, where she was the first editor.

Important Ideas and Writings

Professor Spillers is especially famous for her 1987 essay, "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book." This essay is one of the most referenced works in the study of African-American literature. Many other scholars have used her ideas from this essay in their own research.

Exploring Identity and Language

In 2003, she published a book called Black, White, and in Color. This book is a collection of essays she wrote over many years. One important chapter in this book is "Interstices: A Small Drama of Words." In this essay, Spillers looks closely at how Black women have been described in literature and society. She argues that the way we use language can sometimes hide or misrepresent certain experiences. She believes that understanding how words are used is key to understanding power and identity.

Spillers suggests that Black women often face unique challenges. She points out that their experiences are not always fully understood or described in common language. She uses the idea of "interstices" to show how some important things can "slip through the cracks" in our language and understanding.

Challenging Old Ideas

In a 2006 interview, Professor Spillers talked about writing "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe." She explained that she felt a sense of urgency because, at the time, the importance of Black women in critical theory was often overlooked. She wanted to create new ways for scholars to study and understand the experiences of Black women in academic settings. Her work has had a huge impact on how Black feminist scholars think and write today.

Responding to the Moynihan Report

A significant part of Professor Spillers' work involves responding to a government report from the 1960s called the Moynihan Report. This report suggested that certain challenges faced by Black communities were due to problems within Black families. It described the typical American family as a nuclear family (mother, father, children) and claimed that Black families often didn't fit this model.

Spillers' Counter-Argument

Professor Spillers strongly disagreed with the negative ideas presented in the Moynihan Report. She argued that the report unfairly judged Black families and their structures. She pointed out that during slavery, Black families were often separated, and fathers were frequently absent. Despite these hardships, mothers often became strong leaders in their households.

Spillers' work shows that a family led by a mother (a matriarchal structure) is not a weakness. Instead, she highlights the strength and resilience of Black women and families. She challenges the idea that Black men and women were seen as interchangeable during slavery, emphasizing that Black women were uniquely affected by being seen as "birthing objects." Her writings help to correct harmful stereotypes and celebrate the diverse forms of family strength within the Black community.

Connections with Other Black Feminist Scholars

Professor Spillers' work is highly respected by other important Black feminist thinkers. She has been mentioned by the influential group known as the Combahee River Collective. In an interview, scholar Barbara Smith noted that Spillers was one of the "pillars" who helped build the field of Black women's studies. Smith also shared that she, Spillers, and other notable Black women formed a group called the Afric-American Female Intelligence Society of Boston. This shows how Spillers has been a key figure in connecting and inspiring other scholars in her field.

Published Works

Professor Spillers has written many influential books and articles.

Books

• Black, White, and in Color: Essays on American Literature and Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
• Comparative American Identities: Race, Sex, and Nationality in the Modern Text. New York: Routledge, 1991.
• (With Marjorie Pryse) Conjuring: Black Women, Fiction, and Literary Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.

Articles

• "Born Again': Faulkner and the Second Birth". Fifty Years after Faulkner, edited by Jay Watson and Ann J. Abadie, University Press of Mississippi, JACKSON, 2016, pp. 57–78.
• "Art Talk and the Uses of History". Small Axe, vol. 19 no. 3, 2015, p. 175–185.
• "Views of the East Wing: On Michelle Obama". Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 6:3, 307–310, 2009.
• "Whatcha Gonna Do?': Revisiting 'Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book': A Conversation with Hortense Spillers, Saidiya Hartman, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Shelly Eversley, & Jennifer L. Morgan". Women's Studies Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 1/2, 2007, pp. 299–309.
• "Twentieth-Century Literature's' Andrew J. Kappel Prize in Literary Criticism, 2007". Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 53, no. 2, 2007, pp. vi–x.
• "The Idea of Black Culture". CR: The New Centennial Review, vol. 6, no. 3, 2006, pp. 7–28.
• "A Tale of Three Zoras: Barbara Johnson and Black Women Writers". Diacritics, vol. 34, no. 1, 2004, pp. 94–97.
• "Topographical Topics: Faulknerian Space". The Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 4, 2004, pp. 535–568.
• "Travelling with Faulkner". Critical Quarterly, 45: 8–17, 2003.
• "All the Things You Could Be by Now, If Sigmund Freud's Wife Was Your Mother': Psychoanalysis and Race". Boundary 2, vol. 23, no. 3, 1996, pp. 75–141.
• "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Post-Date". Boundary 2, vol. 21, no. 3, 1994, pp. 65–116.
• "Moving on Down the Line". American Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 1, 1988, pp. 83–109. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2713143.
• "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book". Diacritics, vol. 17, no. 2, 1987, pp. 65–81.
• "An Order of Constancy': Notes on Brooks and the Feminine". The Centennial Review, vol. 29, no. 2, 1985, pp. 223–248.
• "A Hateful Passion, a Lost Love". Feminist Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, 1983, pp. 293–323.
• "Formalism Comes to Harlem", Black American Literature Forum, vol. 16, no. 2, 1982, pp. 58–63.
• "The Works of Ralph Ellison". PMLA, vol. 95, no. 1, 1980, pp. 107–109.
• "A Day in ihe Life of Civil Rights". The Black Scholar, vol. 9, no. 8/9, 1978, pp. 20–27.
• "Ellison's 'Usable Past': Toward a Theory of Myth". Interpretations, vol. 9, no. 1, 1977, pp. 53–69.
• "A Lament". The Black Scholar, vol. 8, no. 5, 1977, pp. 12–16.
• ": SECOND PRIZE-The Black Scholar Essay Contest: MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THE STYLE OF THE BLACK SERMON". The Black Scholar, vol. 3, no. 1, 1971, pp. 14–27.

Reviews

• "Review: Kinship and Resemblances: Women on Women". Feminist Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, 1985, pp. 111–125.
• "Review: Lorraine Hansberry: Art of Thunder, Vision of Light. Special Issue of Freedomways". Signs, vol. 6, no. 3, 1981, pp. 526–527.
• "Review: ... IN THE WATER AND SWIM LIKE ME': NARRATIVE POETRY FROM BLACK ORAL TRADITION by Bruce Jackson". The Black Scholar, vol. 7, no. 5, 1976, pp. 44–46.
• "Review: Black Popular Culture, by Michele Wallace, Gina Dent; Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman. by Michele Wallace; Invisibility Blues--From Pop to Theory by Michele Wallace". African American Review, vol. 29, no. 1, 1995, pp. 123–126.