Womanism" is a term coined by Alice Walker in her book In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens : Womanist Prose to culminate almost two decades-long effort to establish a literary Canon for African American Women writers. Her main target is to evoke the black women's glory and pride in their cultural heritage, and to provide them with socio-political framework to fully engage in society. Izgarjan and Markov emphasize that :
As Walker's literary scope expanded and she developed into a more mature writer and political activist, she became aware of the need for a movement which would be different from feminism and which would offer colored women a space to formulate their policy. She named it Womanism"(305)