I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America

This companion volume to an exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., documents the aspirations and achievements of 75 black women--from ``unsung heroine'' Priscilla L. Williams (``I had fourteen children. Seven of them was my sister's'' sic) to former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm--in the arts, politics, business, academia, athletics and other fields. Photographs by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanker are often striking, quietly revealing pride of character, whether borne with predatorial glamour (Leontyne Price) or guileless pleasure (Gwendolyn Brooks). His verbal portraits, spoken in the words of his subjects, are largely a disappointment, however--brief, surprisingly full of platitudes and lacking in personal signature, they tell a dramatic story of struggle and success in a flatly generic voice. But notable exceptions, such as law professor Eleanor Holmes Norton, comment on their lives with uncompromising intelligence (``Black people get their moral authority in this country not simply because they have suffered, but because they understand the suffering of other people''). (Apr.)