Shahrazad Ali (born April 27, 1954, in Atlanta, Georgia, US), raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, is an author of several books, including a paperback called The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman.[1][2][3] The book was controversial[4][5] bringing "forth community forums, pickets and heated arguments among blacks in many parts" of the US[1] when it was published in 1989.
Stories about the book appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Newsday, and Newsweek. Ali appeared on Tony Brown's Journal, the Sally Jessy Raphaël Show, The Phil Donahue Show, and Geraldo TV programs—and was ridiculed on In Living Color.[6] The book reportedly brought black bookstores new business,[4] while other black bookstores banned it.[1] It also provoked a book of essays (called Confusion by Any Other Name) that explored the negative impact of The Blackman's Guide.[6]
Some passages of her book describing African American women—referred to as the Blackwoman, as is the parlance of the Nation of Islam—quoted in the media include the following:
Although not lazy by nature, she has become loose and careless about herself and about her man and family. Her brain is smaller than the Blackman's, so while she is acclaimed for her high scholastic achievement, her thought processes do not compare to the conscious Blackman's.
Her unbridled tongue is the main reason she cannot get along with the Blackman...if she ignores the authority and superiority of the Blackman, there is a penalty. When she crosses this line and becomes viciously insulting it is time for the Blackman to soundly slap her in the mouth.[1][6]
Ali stated, "I wrote the book because black women in America have been protected and insulated against certain kinds of criticism and examination."[5] Critics complained that book offered no factual data to substantiate her views or information about how she came to her conclusions and was essentially as a vanity-press product that would have been ignored by black people and others had it not been for the media attention its novelty and outrageousness created.[1][6]
In August 2013, Ali re-emerged in the media as a guest commentator on the HLN program Dr. Drew on Call.[4] She was also interviewed on The Trisha Goddard Show along with white supremacist Craig Cobb, agreeing with Cobb that the black and white races should be separated.
Ali is the mother of 12 children, nine of them adopted.[5]
In addition she has written some books no longer in print.