Shahrazad Ali (born April 27, 1954) is an American author of several books, including a paperback called ''The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman''. The book was controversial bringing "forth community forums, pickets and heated arguments among Black people in many parts" of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

when it was published in 1989.

Book reviews

Stories about the book appeared in the ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', and ''

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''. Ali appeared on '' Tony Brown's Journal'', the '' Sally Jessy Raphaël Show'', ''

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'', and '' Geraldo'' TV programs—and was parodied on ''

In Living Color ''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions ...

''. The book reportedly brought black bookstores new business, while other black bookstores banned it. It also provoked a book of essays (called ''Confusion by Any Other Name'') that explored the negative impact of ''The Blackman's Guide''. A sample passage of her book, amongst others quoted in the media, describes African American women referred to as the "Blackwoman", using the parlance of the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

stating: Ali stated, "I wrote the book because black women in America have been protected and insulated against certain kinds of criticism and examination." Critics complained that book offered no factual data to substantiate her views or information about how she came to her conclusions and was essentially a

vanity press A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a book printer that is paid by authors to Self-published, self-publish their books. A vanity press charges fees in advance and does not contribute to the development of the ...

product that would have been ignored by black people and others had it not been for the media attention its novelty and outrageousness created.

Kimberlé Crenshaw Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (born May 5, 1959) is an American civil rights advocate and a scholar of critical race theory. She is a professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, where she specializes in race and gender issues. Cr ...

has argued that Ali's views mirror a claim made by several commentators and public figures that many social problems in African-American communities are caused by "the breakdown of patriarchal family values", including

William Raspberry William Raspberry (October 12, 1935 – July 17, 2012) was an American syndicated public policy, public affairs columnist. He was also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Communications and Journalism at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy ...

George Will George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American libertarian conservative writer and political commentator. He writes columns for ''The Washington Post'' on a regular basis and provides commentary for '' NewsNation''. In 1986, ''The Wall ...

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (; March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and social scientist. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he represented New York (state), New York in the ...

in his report '' The Negro Family'' and

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers; June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council ...

Guest commentator

In August 2013, Ali re-emerged in the media as a guest commentator on the HLN program '' Dr. Drew on Call''. She was also interviewed on '' The Trisha Goddard Show'' along with white supremacist Craig Cobb, agreeing with Cobb that the black and white races should be separated.

Personal life

Ali was married to Solomon Ali from 1965 until his death in 1985, and then to another man named Yahya until his death in 2013. She is the mother of 12 children, nine of them adopted.

Selected bibliography

* ''How Not to Eat Pork (Or Life without the Pig)'', 1985 () * ''The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman'', 1989 () * ''The Blackwoman's Guide to Understanding the Blackman'', 1992 () * ''Are You Still a Slave?'' 1994 () * ''Day by Day'', 1996 () * ''How to Tell If Your Man Is Gay or Bisexual'', 2003, () In addition she has written some books no longer in print. * ''Urban Survival for the Year 2000'' * ''How to Prepare for the Y2K Computer Problem in the 'Hood''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Shahrazad 1954 births Living people African-American non-fiction writers American religious writers Female critics of feminism Members of the Nation of Islam American women religious writers American women non-fiction writers American reparationists 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers