Portrait of Black Women
I am the son of a black woman, and the father of one. These two black women, my mother and my daughter, shaped me in more profound ways than anything or anyone else ever could. As a product of black women, I have always held them (black women) in the highest regard, yet when I scrutinise history, the story of human evolution and development, these brown-skinned heroines are either missing or crammed into obscure footnotes. This book is my attempt to shine a light on them.
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About the Book
This book is a culmination of thoughts and ideas and recollections that form the portrait of black women. It is a long personal talk with my daughter in which I try to etch out the details of the portrait of black women, drawing from her own experience, her mother’s, her grandmothers’, and many other historical and living black women who make up the rich tapestry of blackness and of black strength and whose actions and words and convictions and sacrifice shine an eternal bright light that will act as a guide for her. Although I originally intended this as a long private talk, I realised that other black and brown girls and women could also benefit from the guiding light of those that came before them. I realised that black parents could use the portrait to help soften the blow of “the talk” with their own black children. Men, both white and black, could learn a lot too and wake up to their responsibility to not block doors for women, for black women, to not take up all the seats in the spaces we share. So, in having this private conversation publicly, I hope to contribute my small share to the recognition and respect black women are owed and also to draw the world’s attention to the obstacles they still face while navigating the world in a female black body.
