How Stella Got Her Groove Back belongs in a broad sense to a long literary tradition of depicting African-American gender relations. Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937), and later Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eye, 1970; see separate entry) and Alice Walker (The Color Purple, 1982; see separate entry) dealt with the theme. While critics have compared McMillan's confident, tough heroines to those of Morrison and Walker, there is general agreement that McMillan takes a much kinder approach to men.

McMillan's work is also acknowledged to represent a break with past and present African-American protest literature.

McMillan's protagonists are upbeat and strikingly successful in careers and urban life. Stella Payne is an outstanding example, and a strong departure from traditional depictions of women victimized by men.

McMillan has been credited with starting a literary movement comprised of writers who do not concern themselves especially with issues of...