Carrie Williams Clifford, Sowing for Others to Reap

Here is the ninth publication in our series of Pandemic Books: Sowing for Others to Reap by Carrie Williams Clifford. This started as a something that I could do in the studio for a few hours every week, namely to make a very short run of a public domain, open copyright, or publicly owned work that we haven’t made before and probably won’t make again. It has also been an adventure in reading and research, using available troves of digitized books to find lesser-known works and writers that are somehow relevant to the present moment.

Sowing for Others to Reap was edited by activist and poet Carrie Williams Clifford, in her role as the state president of the Ohio Federation of Coloured Women’s Clubs in 1900. The essays in this small collection show a sort of optimism that organizing and persistence will reap rewards for Black Americans. It also contains hints of arguments within 19th century feminism that seem odd to a contemporary reader. The title itself implies that organizing (and writing about it) benefits others, even if somehow the organizers don’t immediately see the benefits themselves.

Last week we stopped doing direct sales and shipping of these books. Instead, we are making them available for local pick-up in Vancouver, and will not accept payment for them. Instead of payment, we ask that you let us know that you have made a minimum $10 donation to the Hogan’s Alley Society. Email us at psvancouver@publicationstudio.biz to arrange to get your copy. There are ten of them this week, and once they are gone, that’s it.

Softcover, 5×7.75″, 50 pages.