Description
Toni after:
Toni Cade Bambara, Originally named Miltona Mirkin Cade at birth, was a civil rights activist, writer, teacher, and filmmaker. She was born in 1939 in Harlem, New York. At the age of six, she changed her name to Toni, and in 1970 she added the surname Bambara after finding it among her great-grandmother’s belongings.
Bambara was a well known civil rights activist, author of short stories and novels, editor of anthologies of black literature, and professor of English and African American studies. Focusing her artistic concerns on the African American community and the political and social issues affecting it, Bambara concentrated in particular on the welfare of black women. For Bambara, the duties of writer, social activist, teacher, and even student combined to influence her literary and political perspective. She made it her objective to describe the urban black community without resorting to stereotype or simplification. Critics agree that a deep understanding of the complexities of African American life informs all of her work.
Two of her books:
The Black Women (1970) and
Tales and Stories for Black Folks(1971)