Book cover of Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture

Book description

With the Civil Rights movement of the sixties fresh in their perspective, movie producers of the early 1970s began to make films aimed toward the underserved African American audience. Over the next five years or so, a number of cheaply made, so-called blaxploitation movies featured African American actresses in roles…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Women of Blaxploitation as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is the most comprehensive and thought-provoking book on women in Blaxploitation that I have read.

Sims provides a clear and structure analysis of how Blaxploitation came to be, how it tied into Black femininity and influenced the film industry. 

Sims analysis specific actresses who fronted Blaxploitation cinema such as Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson. She describes how American film needs more multifaceted African American characters following the decline of Blaxploitation and how the genre influenced mainstream action heroines like masculinized ones and mother warriors.

From Natacha's list on women in American film.

If you love Women of Blaxploitation...

Book cover of The Rosewood Penny

The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields,

2023 Queer Indie Award Nominee!

The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.

On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…

Want books like Women of Blaxploitation?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Women of Blaxploitation.

Browse books like Women of Blaxploitation

Book cover of Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
Book cover of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood
Book cover of Women Scientists in Fifties Science Fiction Films

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,343

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Women of Blaxploitation, you might also like...

Book cover of Let Evening Come

Let Evening Come by Yvonne Osborne,

After her mother is killed in a rare Northern Michigan tornado, Sadie Wixom is left with only her father and grandfather to guide her through young adulthood. Miles away in western Saskatchewan, Stefan Montegrand and his Indigenous family are displaced from their land by multinational energy companies. They are taken…

Book cover of The Sarcophagus Scroll

The Sarcophagus Scroll by Kat Miller,

A dark academia mystery thriller set in contemporary St Andrews, with snappy dialogue and a strong sense of place.

When Ellie Meikle moves to the picturesque seaside town of St Andrews to study for her PhD in Ancient History, she soon feels as if she has made a mistake. She…

5 book lists we think you will like!