Dorothy Randall Tsuruta, PhD. is chair of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University (SFSU). She teaches African American literature; her research interests include womanist theory and advance composition. At SFSU she is faculty advisor to the SFSU Black Studies Journal. Dr. Tsuruta is on National Council for Black Studies Board of Directors. She also serves regularly as a judge for the annual College Language Association Poetry contest (CLA). Dr. Tsuruta was consultant and contributor to Call and Response, The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition (Houghton and Mifflin, 1998). Her essay ìRegal and Royal: Chicagoís Extraordinary Maud Martha, I appeared in Gwendolyn Brooksí Maud Martha: A Critical Collection (Third World Press, 2002); Concerns: A Publication of the Womenís Caucus of the Modern Language Association (Spring 2002). Her poetry has appeared in the Black Scholar and Best of Show (Detroit Writersí Guild, 2002), having placed among the winners in the Paul Lawrence Durbar Poetry Contest.