On March 17, Farah Jasmine Griffin delivered a talk at Washington University in St. Louis as part of the African Diaspora Literature and Culture guest lecture series, hosted by Julius Fleming. Titled “Safe Harbor: Black Women and the Art of Friendship,” the talk offered reflections from a project still in its early stages.
Griffin began by discussing friendships among enslaved women before turning to the relationship between Obour Tanner and Phillis Wheatley. She then moved to the friendship between Toni Morrison and Toni Cade Bambara. Across these examples, Griffin shared insights drawn from her study of letters exchanged among these women. Particularly striking was the discussion of Wheatley’s letters to Tanner—letters that Tanner preserved, passed down, and that are now housed at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Griffin also reflected on the close bond between Morrison and Bambara, noting that such friendships often emerged within larger gatherings of Black women, with deeper connections forming among smaller groups. At the same time, she emphasized that studying written correspondence can require a degree of speculation, especially when only one side of an exchange survives.
Fittingly, the conversation extended into the Q&A. Griffin’s friend and colleague Dwight McBride, who was in attendance, offered comments that helped advance the discussion. He observed that conversations about relationships often move too quickly to extremes—friends or enemies—whereas he prefers to think in terms of a continuum, from associates to more intimate friendships. His remarks prompted Griffin to elaborate further on her evolving ideas.
During his comments, McBride pointed out that Griffin should talk to Beverly Guy-Sheftall, noting her long-standing friendship with Alice Walker. Griffin’s response, that she would follow up with “Beverly,” offered a small telling glimpse of who's in her network of friends and colleagues. That Griffin-McBride-Guy-Shetftall-Walker moment is suggestive of the many interconnected relationships that quietly shape African American literary studies.
Toward the end of the Q&A, responding to audience comments, Farah Jasmine Griffin reiterated that she is less concerned with the broader politics or public implications of these friendships, what they might signify to others, than with what they meant in the lives of those women themselves.
She also noted that she does not always have precise language to describe the interactions among these women. In reflecting on this challenge, Griffin referenced a collection of letters she previously edited, where the women addressed one another as “beloved sisters and loving friends.”
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