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Creator
Wallace, Michele
Call number
Sc MIRS Wallace 2004-24
Physical description
32 audio_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Michele Wallace audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection, American Express funded the digitization of the collection, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

Journalist, feminist scholar, and cultural critic Michele Wallace is best known for her first book, Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman, published in 1979. The collection consists of thirty-two audio recordings relating to her work as a cultural critic and journalist from 1970 to 1999.

Biographical/historical information

Journalist, feminist scholar, and cultural critic Michele Wallace is best known for her first book, the landmark work of Black feminist cultural criticism, Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman (1979).

Wallace was an assistant professor of English at the University of Oklahoma from 1985 to 1987, and of Women's Studies at the State University of New York, Buffalo from 1987 to 1989. She taught English and Women's Studies at the City College of New York from 1989 to 2010, and at the City University of New York Graduate Center from 1993 to 2018, becoming a full professor in 1998. She now holds the title of professor emeritus.

Wallace was born on January 4, 1952 to the artist Faith Ringgold and the jazz pianist Robert Wallace. She is the founder and director of the Faith Ringgold Society, the mission of which is to publish writings on the work and career of the artist.

As a writer and journalist, Wallace's articles, essays, interviews, and editorials appeared in such magazines and newspapers as Essence magazine, the Village Voice, Newsweek, Ms. magazine, and the New York Times.

Michele Wallace is the author of several books, as well as an editor of, and contributor to, several anthologies. She has also contributed to monographs of Faith Ringgold's artwork. See the Related Materials note for more information.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of thirty-two audio recordings dating from 1970 to 1999.

The Michele Wallace audio collection is arranged in three series:

  • SERIES I: WORKS

    Twelve recordings, organized chronologically, contain radio interviews with Wallace about her work as a cultural critic, as well as lectures and conference presentations. She discusses her books and essays, as well as contemporary art and issues of politics, race, and gender.

  • SERIES II: INTERVIEWS

    Nine recordings reflect Wallace's work as a journalist. Wallace conducted interviews with public figures and artists, and the recordings are organized alphabetically by the interviewees' last names. The interviewees are Amiri Baraka, Shari Belafonte, Frankie Crocker, Iman, Carol Lee, Ishmael Reed, William T. Williams, and Fred Wilson.

  • SERIES III: COLLECTED

    Twelve recordings, organized chronologically, were collected by Wallace in the course of her life and work as a writer and journalist, including broadcasts collected from the radio, as well as music and audiobooks. These recordings include an issue of the audio magazine Audio Arts Supplement featuring the artist Joseph Beuys, a panel talk at the National Black Writers Conference, and two performance art works by Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco. The series contains spoken word recordings by Sonia Sanchez, J. California Cooper and Rozena Maart, and an interview with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee on the radio program Building Bridges originally broadcast on WBAI New York, New York. Wallace does not appear on any recording in this series except one, a recording of a session with her astrologer.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Michele Wallace, December 2004.

Revision History

Biographical note and Related Materials note revised for clarity by Lyric Evans-Hunter. (2024-03-14)

Item scope and content notes and AMI identifiers revised for clarity by Lyric Evans-Hunter. (2024-04-16)

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Christopher Arena. Collection processed and described by Lyric Evans-Hunter, archivist; and Shola Lynch, curator. Finding aid published in 2024.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Michele Wallace papers, Sc MG 739.

Related Material

Titles by Michele Wallace can be found in the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division.

Monographs of Faith Ringgold's work, which include contributions by Wallace, can be found in the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division and the Art and Artifacts Division.

Faith Ringgold's audio and moving image collection can be found in the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.