Painting of a Black woman writing by candlelight, surrounded by letters, a biography of Martin R. Delaney and scenes of nineteenth-century Black life

Black Women’s Diaries Project

Black women writing their own lives, one day at a time.

About the Project

The Black Women’s Diaries Project (BWDP) recovers and publishes diaries written by African American women between 1854 and 1903. Previously only available in libraries and museums, these manuscripts offer an intimate view of nineteenth-century Black life—where the struggle for civil rights unfolds alongside the quiet rhythms of family, work, and community. Fully transcribed and contextualized here, these documents open new windows into Black women’s social history, reframing our understanding of American literature and life through their words.

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Featured Diary

Florence Stanton Barber

Forty-two-year-old wife, mother, and activist Florence Stanton Barber began writing in her diary on New Year’s Day in 1902. For most of the next year, she used her diary to document her everyday life, the ordinary and the extraordinary, in a matter-of-fact tone. Everyday household work blends seamlessly with her civic duties as president of the Y.M.C.A. Women’s Auxiliary, while news of a local fire in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, unfolds next to afternoon visits with friends. Without this diary, Florence Stanton Barber would exist only as a few sparse lines in public records. Her own words bring her world into sharp focus.

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Sepia photograph of Florence Stanton Barber, seated, wearing a striped double-breasted jacket, white collar and tie

In the News

March 2024

Reading American Women’s Diaries with Jennifer Putzi

Library of Congress Blog, Unfolding Research

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