Black Girls Rock!: Celebrating the Power, Beauty, and Brilliance of Black Women by Beverly Bond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It is very important to have representation in literature, in books, on TV, in the movies. It is very important that children can see that there are “people like me” that have done great things.
If you don’t know that there are others like you, in life, in history, how can you know what has come before, and what you can do?
This book is a collection of essays, of speeches given, by women of color, by black women who are alive today, as well as short pieces on black women who have come before.
Yes, we all know who Sojourner Truth was, or I hope we do, and we certainly know who Harriet Tubman was, but how often are we taught about Zora Neal Hurston, when we are taught about the men of the Harlem Renaissance.
What I love about this collection is how varied the women in this volume are. We of course, begin with Michelle Obama, but we have Angela Davis, and Maxine Waters, Joy-Ann Reid, and Toshi Reagon.
This is a great collection. What a wonderful thing Beverly Bond did to create the Black Girls Rock Awards in 2006.
Highly recommended for schools and libraries as well as personal collections.
Thanks to NetGalley for making this book available for an honest review.