novel and the subsequent film, directed by For-
est Whitaker and starring Whitney Houston and
Angela Bassett, denigrated black men. Black men
compared it to Alice Walker’s The COLOR PURPLE,
condemning what they saw as the novels’ and au-
thors’ unrelenting bashing and stereotyping of
black men in general. Despite this negative con-
troversy within the African-American community,
however, Waiting to Exhale remains a significant
novel in the publishing world. With its overwhelm-
ing financial success (it sold more than 4 million
copies), this novel opened the door for future Af-
rican-American romance novelists.
In 1996, McMillan published her fourth novel,
How Stella Got Her Groove Back, whose protago-
nist, Stella, is a highly successful, 40-something
San Francisco stockbroker. During a vacation to
Jamaica with her girlfriend, Delilah, Stella encoun-
ters a young islander, Winston Shakespeare, who
pursues her, forcing her to examine her life and
dreams. As in McMillan’s previous novels, through
a steamy yet stormy relationship, Stella and Win-
ston discover their own weaknesses as well as the
meaning of true love. The overwhelming financial
success of Waiting to Exhale allowed McMillan to
option How Stella Got Her Grove Back to film stu-
dios. Starring Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs, it was
directed by John Deming.
Published in 2001, McMillan’s novel A Day
Late and A Dollar Short focuses on Viola and Cecil
Price and their loving but dysfunctional family.
The novel is different from McMillan’s other nov-
els. Married, Viola and Cecil argue and face many
dilemmas within their family; however, they do
not struggle with issues related to single parent-
hood, nor is Viola concerned about finding “Mr.
Right,” as are most of McMillan’s other female
protagonists.
Terry McMillan’s novels continue to give main-
stream America a glimpse into the complex lives
of middle-class black women as they struggle and
triumph over adversities in their familial and ro-
mantic relationships. Some critics have argued
that the issues McMillan addresses are not in-
tellectually challenging or demanding. Others,
however, argue that McMillan has touched and
exposed a significant core within the community
of middle-class African-American women who
are successful professionally but consider them-
selves failures in their personal lives. McMillan’s
works may not address the long-standing history
of racial politics in America, but she expertly ex-
poses the deep fissures of sexual politics within
the African-American community.
Historically, few African-American writers have
experienced the financial success Terry McMillan
has known. Three of her novels have been on the
New York Times best seller list and have been op-
tioned for films. In addition, the novels and films
appeal to a crossover audience. This financial suc-
cess has generated a range of conversations about
McMillan’s works. African-American literary crit-
ics will continue to revisit McMillan and the sig-
nificance of her works in years to come.BIBLIOGRAPHY
McMillan, Terry. Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Con-
temporary African-American Fiction. New York:
Penguin Books, 1990.
Beverly TateMcPherson, James Alan (1943– )
James Alan McPherson was born in 1943 in Sa-
vannah, Georgia, to James and Mabel McPherson.
His mother was a domestic worker; his father was
Georgia’s first licensed black master electrician.
After earning a bachelor of arts degree at Morris
Brown College, McPherson went to Harvard Law
School in 1965. That year, his short story “Gold
Coast” won first prize in a writing competition
sponsored by the United Negro College Fund and
Reader’s Digest. Choosing creative writing over
law, he went to the University of Iowa, where he
received a master of fine arts from Iowa’s writing
workshop in 1969. Simultaneously he won a grant
from the Atlanta Monthly to publish his first col-
lection of short stories, Hue and Cry.
McPherson is the author of several works, in-
cluding Hue and Cry: Short Stories (1969), Elbow
Room: Short Stories (1977), Crabcakes (1998), and352 McPherson, James Alan