This study articulates the distinctive moral character of the Afro-American women's community. Beginning with a reconstructive history of the Afro-American woman's situation in America, Katie G. Cannon goes on to trace the emergence of the Black woman's literary tradition and explain itsimportance in expressing the moral wisdom of Black women. The life and work of Zora Neale Hurston are examined in detail for her unique contributions to the moral tradition of the Afro-American woman. A final chapter initiates a promising exchange between the works of Hurston and those of HowardThurman and Martin Luther King, Jr.