The pioneering anthology Home Girls features writings by Black feminists and lesbian activists on topics both provocative and profound. Since its initial publication in 1983, it has become an essential text on Black women's lives and writings. This edition features an updated lists of contributor biographies and an all-new preface that provides a fresh assessment of how Black women's lives have changed- or not- since the book was first published. Includes: For a godchild, Regina, on the occasion of her first love by Toi Derricotte The damned by Toi Derricotte Hester's song by Toi Derricotte The sisters by Alexis De Veaux Debra by Michelle T. Clinton If I could write this in fire, I would write this in fire by Michelle Cliff The blood - yes, the blood: a conversation by Cenen and Barbara Smith Something Latino was up with us by Spring Redd I used to think by Chirlane McCray The black back-ups by Kate Rushin Home by Barbara Smith Under the days: the buried life and poetry of Angelina Weld Grimké by Akasha (Gloria) Hull The black lesbian in American literature: an overview by Ann Allen Shockley Artists without art form by Renita Weems I've been thinking of Diana Sands by Patricia Jones A cultural legacy denied and discovered : black lesbians in fiction by women by Jewelle L. Gomez What it is I think she's doing anyhow: a reading of Toni Cade Bambara's The salt eaters by Akasha (Gloria) Hull Tar beach by Audre Lorde Before I dress and soar again by Donna Allegra LeRoy's birthday by Raymina Y. Mays The wedding by Beverly Smith Maria de las Rosas by Becky Birtha Miss Esther's land by Barbara A. Banks The failure to transform: homophobia in the black community by Cheryl Clarke Where will you be? by Pat Parker Among the things that use to be by Willie M. Coleman From sea to shining sea by June Jordan Women of summer by Cheryl Clarke The tired poem: last letter from a typical unemployed black professional woman by Kate Rushin Shoes are made for walking by Shirley O. Steele Billy de Lye by Deidre McCalla The Combahee River Collective statement by Combahee River Collective Black macho and black feminism by Linda C. Powell Black lesbianbyfeminist organizing: a conversation by Tania Abdulahad ... [et al.] For strong women by Michelle T. Clinton The black goddess by Kate Rushin Women's spirituality: a household act by Luisah Teish Only justice can stop a curse by Alice Walker Coalition politics: turning the century by Bernice Johnson Reagon