WITH HER FIST RAISED Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the Transformative Power of Black Community Activism

Narrator Sandra Sims delivers a sincere but lackluster performance of this audiobook about Black feminist icon Dorothy Pitman Hughes. Hughes organized her New York City community to create much needed child care and job training for families suffering from poverty and racial discrimination, actively empowering her neighbors to create better outcomes for themselves. She traveled across the U.S. with Gloria Steinem, speaking about the Women's Movement, became a business owner, and purchased a beauty pageant to combat the overwhelmingly white franchise. Sims's performance wavers between conversational ease and a dispassionate listing of events, with a wavering cadence creating awkward pauses in the middle of some sentences. While listeners might find themselves disengaged occasionally, Hughes's fascinating life is, nonetheless, an inspiration for Black community activism. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2021]