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"I, Tituba ..." is a fictionalization of the life of a black woman tried as a witch in 1600s America. The stern, rigid, Puritanical Christianity of the time is a vivid contrast and powerfully defining context for the journey of personal transformation undertaken by the title character as she struggles to sustain her spiritual, racial, and gender identity. While its primary thematic concern is with discrimination and its manifestations, the narrative also explores themes relating to the corrupting power of revenge and the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

In this brief introduction, African-American activist Angela Davis suggests that the book is an example of how "contemporary women of African descent - both scholars and artists" are using their talents and skills to define a "lost history". She describes the novel as Tituba's revenge on being forgotten over the centuries since her life, as...