Beginning in the late 1960s, women's studies scholars worked to introduce courses on the history, literature, and philosophies of women. While these initial efforts were rather general, women's studies programs have started to give increasing amounts of attention to the special concerns of women of color. The topic itself is politically charged, and there is growing awareness that the issues facing women of color are diverse and complex. Expert contributors offer chapters on the major concerns facing women of color in the modern world, particularly in the United States and Latin America.Each chapter treats one or more groups of women who have been underrepresented in women's studies scholarship or have had their experiences misinterpreted, including African Americans, Latina Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. Women of Color includes chapters on theories related to race, gender, and identity. One section provides discussions of literature by women of color, including works by such authors as Toni Morrison and Maxine Hong Kingston. The book also focuses on the place of women of color in higher education, including chapters on women of color and the women's studies curriculum, and the role of librarians in shaping women's studies programs.

Foreword by Toni-Michelle TravisIntroduction by Diane Long HoevelerTheoretical Perspectives on Race, Gender, and IdentityDefining Differences: Feminism, Race Theory, and Identity Politics in the Academy by Nina Manasan GreenbergThe Uses of Silence: Notes on the "Will to Unsay" by Patti DuncanWomen Networking with Their Neighbors: The Universal Thread of Civic Activism by Janet K. BolesBearing Subaltern Witness: Rigoberta Menchu's Testimonio and Our Human Identity by Lance GrahnStandpoint Epistemology and Women of Color by Jorge ValadezRaising and Listening to Our VoicesEthical Authority and Women Writers of Color by Mary Sullivan HallerPostcolonial Daughters: Nairobi, Beijing, and Paule Marshall by Laura H. RoskosLike Words for Pain/Like Water for Chocolate Mouths, Wombs, and the Mexican Women's Novel by Diane Long HoevelerIntersections of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Experimentation in the Autobiographical Writings of Cherr'e Moraga and Maxine Hong Kingston by Rosetta R. HaynesGrowing Up Desperately: The Adolescent `Other' in the Novels of Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, and Michelle Cliff by Nancy BackesThe Theater of the New World (B)Orders: Performing Cultural Criticism with Coco Fusco, Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Anna Deavere Smith by Jennifer DrakePraxisCurriculum Reform, Women's Studies, and Women of Color by Arlene SgoutasLibrarians and Women's Studies Programs by Arglenda Friday