May 1, 2024
An actor, filmmaker, and gender adviser to the UN celebrates her Blackness by delving into Black women's history. The daughter and granddaughter of Jamaican immigrants, White wears many hats: "a Forbes 30 Under 30--honored actor, writer, filmmaker, CEO of a film production company, and gender adviser to the United Nations." In each of these roles, she is inspired by the Black women whose indefatigable resilience and resistance shaped the world. "Black women are alchemists, spinning gold from a life of hardship," she writes. "Their alchemy is born of necessity--a need to break down in order to rebuild and survive. Far from a homogenous assembly, Black women forge new intergenerational stories drawing together and saying no. It will always be important to speak about the oppressions faced by Black women, but...this book is dedicated solely to Black women surviving, thriving, and glowing." To illustrate her point, White retells the histories of Black women like Nancy Green, the woman who inspired and resisted the branding of Aunt Jemima maple syrup; Alice Dearing, the first Black British swimmer to represent her nation at the Olympics amid a scandal involving swimming caps made for Black hair; and Florynce "Flo" Kennedy, who challenged sexual and racial expectations in the American political arena. White ties the stories back to her own journey as a Black woman who benefited and learned from these forgotten women of the past. At its best, this book is an ebulliently narrated, deeply researched, passionately argued manifesto about Black femininity. The author's repeated references to the "thread of gold" metaphor can grow cloying--the text holds together beautifully without it--and the final chapters feel slightly perfunctory (and perhaps unnecessary). Overall, though, this is a wonderfully optimistic work of nonfiction. A profound and fascinating book uncovering and celebrating forgotten histories of Black women all over the world.
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