This book explores the generational divide over questions related to agency. While traditional black feminists tend to see new images of black women negatively as a retreat and an impediment to progress, younger black women tend to embrace these new images and see them in a positive light. After carefully setting up this divide, this book suggests that a more complex understanding of black feminist agency needs to be developed, one that is adapted to the complexities faced by the younger generation in today's world.

Introduction Agency Born of Struggle Chapter One THE CONSTRUCTED AGENT: POSTMODERNISM, WHITE FEMINISM AND BLACK MALE AGENCY Chapter Two HISTORICIZING AGENCY IN THE BLACK FEMINIST TRADITION: A PHENMENOLOGY OF THE BLACK FEMALE BODY Chapter Three MILLENNIALS: BLACK WOMEN FORMING AND TRANSFORMING AGENCY Chapter Four MILLENNIALS: BLACK WOMEN FORMING AND TRANSFORMING AGENCY Chapter Five THE THINGS THEY CONTINUE TO CARRY: BLACK WOMEN'S AGENCY TODAY AND TOMORROW Chapter Six CONCLUSION: ON THE GREAYNESS OF GRAY Bibliography

Dr. Maria del Guadalupe Davidson is Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program and Co-Director of the Center for Social Justice at the University of Oklahoma