Half in Shadow

“Half in Shadow is a significant contribution to the intersecting fields of African American and women’s studies and stands as a lasting tribute to a devoted mentor. Shanna Benjamin paints a compelling and convincing portrait of Nellie Y. McKay as a complex mentor, an ambitious single mother, and a discipline-defining scholar. The result is a fascinating exploration of a life told with sensitivity rather than sensation.”—Cherene Sherrard-Johnson, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Shanna Benjamin has written the kind of book so many of us have longed to read: a history concerning Black women scholars who significantly shaped African American literary studies. The project highlights aspects of a scholar who was widely known yet remained Half in Shadow. Though this book primarily concentrates on a single person, we see the stakes in the field for women, especially Black women, in the academy. Benjamin does essential work here.”—Howard Rambsy, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

“Shanna Benjamin’s biography of Nellie McKay is a remarkable portrait of a Black feminist literary scholar who helped to craft the influential field of Black Women’s Studies and made significant contributions to African American literary studies. Very compelling as well is Benjamin’s unusual method, which weaves her own personal narrative as a literary scholar into the extraordinary, complex life of her former professor.”—Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Spelman College

“Illustrating the challenges and exclusion often experienced by Black women in academia, Shanna Greene Benjamin has written this compelling and unexpected biography of Nellie Y. McKay, a formidable scholar of contemporary literature and women’s studies.”—Ms. Magazine