Beverly Guy-Sheftall


Beverly Guy-Sheftall is a Black feminist scholar, writer and editor, who is the Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies and English at Spelman College, in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the founding director of the Spelman College Women's Research and Resource Center, the first at a historically Black college or university.

Biography

Beverly was born to Walter and Ernestine Varnado-Guy in Memphis. She graduated high school at the age of 16 and attended Spelman College, where she graduated in 1966. She received an M.A. from Atlanta University in English and a PhD from Emory University in 1984 from the Institute of Liberal Arts. She founded the Spelman Women's Research and Resources Center in 1981, the first of its kind at a historically Black college or university. The Center also hosts the first Women's Studies program at a historically Black college or university. In 1983, she became one of the founding co-editors of Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women.
Guy-Sheftall's publications include the 1995 anthology Words of Fire, about which one reviewer has written: "Fire can be used to burn down, burn away or burn through. Metaphorically, Words of Fire does all three. The works it includes are conventional and controversial, reaffirming and disarming. Their overall effect is overwhelming. With uncommon command and unparalleled thoroughness, the image of African-American women as progenitors, participants and propellants in the feminist movement emerges from Words of Fire — 'a stronger soul within a finer frame'".
She contributed the piece "African American Women: The Legacy of Black Feminism" to the 2003 anthology ', edited by Robin Morgan.
In 2004, students in her Feminist Theory class touched off a national conversation regarding the lyrics and depictions of women in music videos when they decided to engage rapper Nelly about his video "Tip Drill."
In 2013, she was a featured feminist in the 2013 PBS documentary ', which highlighted feminist history. In 2017, Dr. Guy-Sheftall was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Books

Awards