Essay collection on Pauline Hopkins shares her literary influence

Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins was an African American novelist, editor, journalist, playwright and historian during the 19th and 20th centuries. Born in 1859, Hopkins is best known for her short stories published between 1900 and 1903 that used romance to address social issues of the time. Hopkins worked as an editor and writer for the Colored Co-operative Publishing Company’s Colored American Magazine, a literary journal that became the focus of the company.

In a collection of essays, titled Yours for Humanity, editor JoAnn Pavletich gathers the thoughts and influences of Hopkins on today’s authors and scholars. The essays provide a new phase of historical and literary recovery of Hopkins’ work, which addresses contemporary issues such as lynching, imperialism, pan-African unity and representation of African American women’s voices. The collection explores her innovative writing practices that opened a new door for female writers and a generation of scholarship. Scholars include Hanna Wallinger, Elizabeth Cali and Edlie Wong with a foreword by John Gruesser.