The Foremother Figure in Early Black Women's Literature by Jacqueline K. Bryant (1999, Hardcover)

Critics have noted that the subversion of black stereotypes was a major preoccupation of early African American writers. This study explores the subversion of the "mammy" stereotype in a broad range of works by black women writers. Bryant examines the writings of Harriet Jacobs, Frances E. W. Harper, Pauline Hopkins, and others, and finds that these authors reject depictions of the familiar flat "mammy" figure, who is defined solely by her domestic chores and responsibilities, in favor of older female characters of great complexity.
(Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University, 1998; revised with new preface)