Changing Our Own Words: Essays on Criticism, Theory and Writing By Black WomenDescribing the impetus for Changing Our Own Words: Essays on Criticism, Theory and Writing By Black Women (Rutgers University Press, 1989), Board of Governors Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English Cheryl Wall writes, “I took the idea for a one-day conference to then-IRW director Carol Smith, who embraced it enthusiastically. The conference on October 22-23, 1987, was one of the most gratifying experiences of my career. The room for the symposium was filled with many of the most brilliant scholars and writers of my generation. The book became one of the foundational texts in black feminist criticism. I will forever be grateful for the support of the IRW.”