Black Reads: Issue 027
We back with a special curation, intentionally curated.
Our story is our history. The definition of history is the study of past events, and the intention for this month is to lean more into the Sankofa practice of studying our history to bring the wisdom into our reality. Something so simple, yet so powerful, and today, with pure alignment, this collection of Black reads is doing just that.
The paid subscribers are so graceful with me, and while the chat thread shift has felt like the perfect alignment for this season, a Black Reads issue spotlighting their work feels even better. Might not be every week, but what they shared in the chat this week was so divinely aligned with the intention of this month, it just made sense.
I can’t wait to see how these pieces landed with y’all in the comments!
This is one of those pieces that I would have loved to curate in the Black Hair series because it’s that good. The way Dr. Anna Jackman explains being tenderheaded as something beyond our sensitivity to getting our hair tugged and pulled at, but as a call for us to check in with our nervous system. That framework opens up a consciousness that I believe most Black women can relate to, especially when we make the connection to our hair.
Highly recommend this one, y’all 10/10!
“Like how every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square,” was the perfect way to shift the language for us from ancestors to guardian angels to acknowledge them all in the present tense. Your Favorite Published Yapper truly did something with this piece. It’s given Sankofa in real time, in a new way.
Absolutely recommending this read for y’all. She’s a 10/10!
When I say this month is Black Women’s History Month, leaning all the way into that Sankofa magic, this piece is exactly what I meant. The way we are taken through the timeline as a reader of Dr. Deborah D. Jenkins’s lineage is magical to say the least. Honestly, I have no words to express how powerful this read is.
It’s an obvious 10/10 Black Reads recommendation!
“Since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman, and our game from a woman,” immediately started playing in my mind when I clicked on this piece written by B4 to dive into. It reminded me of a client’s manuscript I’ve been working on and how this story feels familiar. As a Black woman born and raised in America with both sets of grandparents also American, learning about how the experience of Blackness differs but also parallels in so many ways.
I think about the culture-specific names that teachers struggled to pronounce and how this shared experience divides us in ways it doesn’t actually have to. This is my mind working its magic and doing the Sankofa work our guardian angels, as Your Favorite Published Yapper put it, would be proud of.
As you can already tell, this is a 10/10 Black Read for ya ass!
Yes, this month is Black Women’s History Month, but music is such a major way of using the energy of Sankofa. The way Brandon O'Sullivan weaves this timeline together to show the lineage of Michael Jackson musically, I HAD to add this one to the list for this week. I need us to witness all the ways in which we, as Black writers, hold a responsibility to document our history in this kind of way. That’s what I feel all of these authors have done well in this week’s Black Reads curation.
For my music lovers and millennials, you are going to love this one. 10/10
If you haven’t already, pop in the chat to let us know how you are committing to saying “yes” to yourself this month. It’s some real healing going on in this one.
Oooooo, these reads feel like a fabulous piece of crown jewelry around the royal neck of Queen Charlotte. In the spirit of Sankofa, she was Black, you know. Can’t wait to get into these.
Thank you so much for the feature. I hope those learning and loving their ancestors and those on the other side take a look!