The field of black women's history gained recognition as a legitimate field of study only late in the twentieth century. Collecting stories that are both deeply personal and powerfully political, "Telling Histories" compiles 17 personal narratives by leading black women historians at various stages in their careers, illuminating how they entered and navigated higher education, a world concerned with--and dominated by--whites and men. In distinct voices and from different vantage points, the personal histories revealed here also tell the story of the struggle to establish the fields of African American and African American women's history. Contributors include Mia Bay, Elsa Barkley Brown, Leslie Brown, Crystal N. Feimster, Darlene Clark Hine, Chana Kai Lee, Jennifer L. Morgan, Nell Irvin Painter, Merline Pitre, Barbara Ransby, Julie Saville, and Ula Taylor.