A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life by Eliza Potter, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Eliza Potter ISBN: 9780807898666
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: November 1, 2009
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Eliza Potter
ISBN: 9780807898666
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: November 1, 2009
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Here is the first fully annotated edition of a landmark in early African American literature--Eliza Potter's 1859 autobiography, A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life. Potter was a freeborn black woman who, as a hairdresser, was in a unique position to hear about, receive confidences from, and observe wealthy white women--and she recorded it all in a revelatory book that delighted Cincinnati's gossip columnists at the time. But more important is Potter's portrait of herself as a wage-earning woman, proud of her work, who earned high pay and accumulated quite a bit of money as one of the nation's earliest "beauticians" at a time when most black women worked at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Because her work offered insights into the private lives of elite white women, Potter carved out a literary space that featured a black working woman at the center, rather than at the margins, of the era's transformations in gender, race, and class structure. Xiomara Santamarina provides an insightful introduction to this edition that includes newly discovered information about Potter, discusses the author's strong satirical voice and proud working-class status, and places the narrative in the context of nineteenth-century literature and history.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Here is the first fully annotated edition of a landmark in early African American literature--Eliza Potter's 1859 autobiography, A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life. Potter was a freeborn black woman who, as a hairdresser, was in a unique position to hear about, receive confidences from, and observe wealthy white women--and she recorded it all in a revelatory book that delighted Cincinnati's gossip columnists at the time. But more important is Potter's portrait of herself as a wage-earning woman, proud of her work, who earned high pay and accumulated quite a bit of money as one of the nation's earliest "beauticians" at a time when most black women worked at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Because her work offered insights into the private lives of elite white women, Potter carved out a literary space that featured a black working woman at the center, rather than at the margins, of the era's transformations in gender, race, and class structure. Xiomara Santamarina provides an insightful introduction to this edition that includes newly discovered information about Potter, discusses the author's strong satirical voice and proud working-class status, and places the narrative in the context of nineteenth-century literature and history.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book War Matters by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Gospel of Disunion by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book From Goodwill to Grunge by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book No Sympathy for the Devil by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Freedom's Frontier by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Reconstructing the Household by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Spin Control by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book The Price of Defiance by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Calculating the Value of the Union by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Time in Ezra Pound's Work by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book John Brown's Body by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Electra and the Empty Urn by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Blurred Borders by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Grassroots Garveyism by Eliza Potter
Cover of the book Blackbeard's Sunken Prize by Eliza Potter
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy