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Guide to the Black Women Stirring the Waters Collection
MS 152
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Title: Black Women Stirring the Waters Collection
Dates: 1982-1997
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1994-1997)
Collection number: MS 152
Creator:
Black Women Stirring the Waters (Oakland, Calif.)
Creator:
Butler, Mary Ellen, 1940-
Collection Size:
.75 linear feet
(2 boxes)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Abstract: The Black Women Stirring the Waters Collection includes contributing authors’ manuscripts and correspondence, history and
records of the group, and audio recordings. The collection documents the creation of the organization’s 1997 publication,
Black Women Stirring the Waters .
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.
Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.
Permission to publish from the Black Women Stirring the Waters Collection must be obtained from the African American Museum
& Library at Oakland.
Black Women Stirring the Waters collection, MS 152, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Oakland, California.
The collection was donated to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland on February 23, 2004 by Mary Ellen Butler.
Processed by Jennifer Pickens, May 21, 2014.
Biography / Administrative History
Black Women Stirring the Waters is a black women’s discussion group founded in 1984 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The group
was conceived by Clara Stanton Jones, the first African American to head the public library of a major city and the first
African American president of the American Library Association, and Aileen Clarke Hernandez, activist, and former President
of the National Organization for Women (NOW). The group was organized with no formal structure, no taboo subjects, and no
requirements for membership other than an interest in the dialog. Black Women Stirring the Waters takes its name from a quote
attributed to the 19th century abolitionist, Sojourner Truth. The group has a large roster of members from six Bay Area counties
ranging in age from mid-twenties to mid-nineties; bi-monthly meetings are held to discuss the perspectives of black women
on a multitude of subjects. In 1997, forty-four members of the group published a collection of autobiographical memoirs discussing
ways they have dealt with obstacles and have grown in their lives and careers.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Black Women Stirring the Waters Collection includes contributing authors’ manuscripts and correspondence, history and
records of the group, and audio recordings. The collection documents the creation of the organization’s 1997 publication,
Black Women Stirring the Waters . Records include each author’s original manuscript and drafts for the publication, including any correspondence between the
authors and Mary Ellen Butler, compiler and editor of the book. Documents include a conference agenda from the group’s inception
and newspaper clippings publicizing the book’s release. The collection is arranged into four series: 1) Author manuscripts
and correspondence, 2) organization history and records, 3) audiocassettes, and 4) published material.
Series I. Author manuscripts and correspondence
Series II. Organization history and records
Series III. Audiocassettes
Series IV. Published material
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
African American women--California--History.
African American women--Societies and clubs.
African Americans--California--History.
African American authors--Biography.
African American women--Biography.
Butler, Mary Ellen. 1997.
Black Women Stirring the Waters. Oakland, Calif: Marcus Books.