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Phillis Wheatley- The first American Black Poet
Wheatley is most famously known for “on being brought from Africa to America” published in 1773. She was an active abolitionist as she herself was an ex-slave. She was in fact put on trial for her writing in Front of Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson in order to prove her humanity as a black woman. -
Jane Austen and the Victorian Age
Jane Austen writes Emma in 1814-1815 During the Victorian Age. Women did not have suffrage, the right to sue, or own property. However her status as an Upper Class White Women enabled her to be educated. The Universal theme presented in Emma deals with a young woman's maturation into adulthood as she unconventially chooses not to marry or fufill all expected gender roles. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was initially released in serial format in the National Era, a weekly newspaper, from June 5, 1851-April 1, 1852.(Wrote prior to the civil war) Stowe was a White Upper Class Women.Her Grandmother was a slave-owner (which would indicate her upper class) and she was born to religious leader Lyman Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin changed forever how Americans viewed slavery, the system that treated people as property. It contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 -
Emily Dickinson and Social Status
Emily Dickinson wrote a variouse number of peoms between 1856-1865. Her writing overlapped with the civil war, when women's rights were still very restricted. Unlike Austen, She was not born into a wealthy family. Her social status may be part of the reason why her poems were not published until 1890,after her death.However a man published her work for her (Todd Brought) -
Assia Djebar
Assia Djebar is an Algerian writer who is considered one of the most important writers of North Aftican literature. She uses poetry, plays, novels, and short stories to examine her experiences growing up in a warring country and living as a woman during very difficult times. Djebar's works are compared to the work of respected authors such as Toni Morrison, who write from a feminist, African perspective of the world. -
Zora Neale Hurston and Their Eyes Were Watching God
Hurston is writing after the women's suffurage act so there is more freedom given to women. She is no longer subjected to the issue of slavery as a Black Female writer. She writes during the harlem renassance. Her parents were two former slaves. In order to support herself and get and education she worked many jobs. She writes a coming of age novel for the African American female and encourages women to form their identity apart from societal restrictions, men and marriage. -
Maryse Condé
Maryse Condé was born in Pointe-à-Pitre (the largest city in Guadeloupe) in 1937. She earned her doctorate in comparative literature through the research of black stereotypes in Caribbean literature. Her 1976 novel, Heremakhonon, was inspired by events of her life in West Africa. -
Christina Garcia
Christina Garcia was born in Havana, Cuba and raised in New York. Her novels, such as Dreaming in Cuban often explore the realities of Cuban family life, without relying on stereotypes. Most of her works explore the impact of the revolution that put Fidel Castro in power on Cubans. -
Joanne Rowling
Joanne Rowling was born in 1965 in England. She studied at Exeter University, where she earned a French and Classics degree. Before she wrote the Harry Potter novels, she worked as a researcher at Amnesty International among other odd jobs. -
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran and grew up experiencing the growing oppression of civil liberties and the everyday life consequences of Iranian politics, such the fall of the Shah and the first years of the war between Iran and Iraq. When she was 14, Marjane's parents sent her to Vienna to flee the Iranian regime. Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel series, Persepolis and Persepolis 2 describe her Iranian childhood and her teenage years in Vienna. -
Maya Angelou's "I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing"
She lived during the civil writes era and her work reflected the goal of the movement. Angelou worked for Martin Luther King and Malcom X as an activist, which gave her a window to display her work. " I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing" is Angelou’s most famous work and deals with issues of sexual harrasment. In one of the novel's most evocative (and controversial) moments, Angelou describes how she was first cuddled then raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was just seven years old. -
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. She is the author of three novels, Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and Americanah. She is also very well known for her Ted Talk on the dangers of a single story. -
Alice Walker and "The Color Purple"
Alice walker writes "The Color Purple" in 1982 and brings awarenss to the subject of sexual abuse. Her literature mirrors universal issues around the globe. She also adresses issues of race and class within American Society -
Toni Morrison's Beloved
Morrison represents the wider range of Black female writers. She wrote Beloved in 1987. And adresses universal issues about how the past affects the future. She presents concepts of love, motherhood, and the supernatural.Her Father was a welder and mother was a domestic worker yet she is still given the opportunity to write. -
WGA Strike
A month long strike by the Writers Guild of America produced a spec-script boom which democratized the film-making creative process. While studios were not producing creative content, writers were busy compiling new scripts. When the strike ended, the creative market was flooded with brand new scripts. Studios saw the profit potential of independent writers and followed was a spec script boom. -
Julia Alverez- Latin American Representations
Julia Alverez was born in New York, but moves back to Dominican Republic for most of her childhood. She came back to America and published her first novel "How the Gacia Girls Lost Their Accents" in 1991. She adresses issues such as sexuality and the concept of assimilation, and identity formation. -
Thelma and Louise
Callie Khouri wins Oscar for best original screenplay. Though she was not the first woman to win this award (Muriel Box, 1945), women's advocates rally around the victory because of the film's strong message. Her success became emblematic of the potential for new screenwriters in the democratized spec script boom. -
Advent of Social Media
Open Diary is launched foreshadowing the rise of social media. Less and a year later Live Journal followed as well as dozens of other online blogging sites. Writers whose voices were previously unheard by studios could now be discovered though it would still take almost a decade for this potential to be realized. -
Consolidation of Media
In the mid-2000's, the American media industry consolidated to five major corporations, limiting avenues for screen-writers trying to operate outside the corporate structure. In 2002 there were 114 spec-scripts sold to studios. There were 58 in 2005. This centralization of the creative process has been called the "Harry Potter Effect." -
30 Rock
For five seasons, 30 Rock humorously explores the subject matter of female writers in the comedy writing world. Tina Fey's continued rise and openness about gender politics in the screenwriting world shed new light on these issues. Tina Fey became an advocate for women writers amid controversial comments about women's place in the comedy world. -
WGA Strike
100 day strike by the Writers Guild of America starves what was left of the spec-script market. Durring the work stoppage, production studios reexamine their development strategies and decide to adopt a more conservative, corporate approach. -
Great Recession
Pessimistics economic forcasts make studios conservative. Development budgets are tightened and the creative process becomes even more corporatized. -
Juno
Diablo Cody wins the Oscar for best original screenplay for Juno. The film tackled several taboo issues related to the relationships between men and women/children and adults from a woman's point of view. The film also demonstrated the power of new media in creating space for new voices. -
Kelly Oxford
Kelly Oxford, a house wife and mother of three, achieves 350,000 followers on twitter and gains a grassroots Hollywood following. She sells her first movie to Warner Bros. depicting a life of a young woman drifting through life suddenly haveing to confront the reality of an unexpected pregnancy.
