Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1946, Beverly Guy-Sheftall came from a family of small fortune and a hard work ethic. Her interest in women's studies and feminism has played a constant role in her life due to her mother, Ernestine Varnado Guy, who was an active feminist and women’s studies enthusiast; she was also an accountant and math teacher. Without a father figure, Beverly Guy-Sheftall learned to be independent at a young age, proving herself by graduating from Memphis's Manassas High School in 1962 with honors at the age of 16. That same year she started her college career at Spelman College in Atlanta. At Spelman College she received a B.A. in English with a minor in secondary education. For a fifth year of schooling she attended Wellesley College, focusing her English thesis paper on the treatment of women throughout novels, the beginning of a concentration in women’s studies. After a year of teaching English at Alabama State University, Guy-Sheftall returned to the familiar and comfortable by taking at position at Spelman College in the English department.
While teaching, Beverly Guy-Sheftall has released a large number of publications focusing on African-American women feminism and women’s studies. She pioneered the Women’s Research and Resource Center as well as being named the Anna Julia Cooper Professor of women’s studies. The center is extremely valuable because it has recognized sexism and racism in women’s studies. A popular speaker and guest, many colleges and universities across the nation request her to visit. Beverly Guy-Sheftall is also in high demand for interviews with magazines, television and news shows. Her most famous books include, Sturdy Black Bridges: Visions of Black Women in Literature (Doubleday, 1980), her dissertation, Daughters of Sorrow: Attitudes Toward Black Women, 1880-1920 (Carlson, 1991); Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought (New Press, 1995); and an anthology she co-edited with Rudolph Byrd entitled Traps: African American Men on Gender and Sexuality (Indiana University Press, 2001).
Known to be lively and vivacious, Beverly Guy-Sheftall is not the typical university professor, or feminist activist. She has given so much more back to society and communities in her hometowns as well as across the United States by being active and spreading her word. A strong believer in tradition and improvement through education, she doesn’t appear to be lessening her efforts to contribute to what she has dedicated her life to, feminism and racism in the women’s movement through women’s studies.
Work Referenced:
Answers.com. Black Biography information about Beverly Guy-Sheftall. Contemporary Black Biography. 2006, The Gale Group, Inc. [22 February 2007]. http://www.answers.com/topic/beverly-guy-sheftall
Spelman College: Centers of Distinction. WRRC: Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall. 2004. [13 February 2007]. http://www.spelman.edu/about_us/distinction/womenscenter/sheftall.shtml
While teaching, Beverly Guy-Sheftall has released a large number of publications focusing on African-American women feminism and women’s studies. She pioneered the Women’s Research and Resource Center as well as being named the Anna Julia Cooper Professor of women’s studies. The center is extremely valuable because it has recognized sexism and racism in women’s studies. A popular speaker and guest, many colleges and universities across the nation request her to visit. Beverly Guy-Sheftall is also in high demand for interviews with magazines, television and news shows. Her most famous books include, Sturdy Black Bridges: Visions of Black Women in Literature (Doubleday, 1980), her dissertation, Daughters of Sorrow: Attitudes Toward Black Women, 1880-1920 (Carlson, 1991); Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought (New Press, 1995); and an anthology she co-edited with Rudolph Byrd entitled Traps: African American Men on Gender and Sexuality (Indiana University Press, 2001).
Known to be lively and vivacious, Beverly Guy-Sheftall is not the typical university professor, or feminist activist. She has given so much more back to society and communities in her hometowns as well as across the United States by being active and spreading her word. A strong believer in tradition and improvement through education, she doesn’t appear to be lessening her efforts to contribute to what she has dedicated her life to, feminism and racism in the women’s movement through women’s studies.
Work Referenced:
Answers.com. Black Biography information about Beverly Guy-Sheftall. Contemporary Black Biography. 2006, The Gale Group, Inc. [22 February 2007]. http://www.answers.com/topic/beverly-guy-sheftall
Spelman College: Centers of Distinction. WRRC: Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall. 2004. [13 February 2007]. http://www.spelman.edu/about_us/distinction/womenscenter/sheftall.shtml
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