Sing A Black Girl's Song
Sing a Black Girl’s Song, is a new posthumous collection of Shange’s unpublished poems, essays, and plays from throughout the life of the seminal Black feminist writer. Join the event at: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/wbf-sing-a-black-girls-song . Before the event begins, you will see a countdown and the event image.
This seminal collection is a window into Shange’s internal life, from her writings as a budding poet and her galvanizing calls to action written during the Black Arts Movement to her verse and prose are infused with humor, sadness, joy, and projections of a better future — exemplifying not only the breadth of Black experience in America, but of the human experience as a whole. Throughout, she references the people, languages, places, music, and groups that influenced and enriched her work. Where the world often forces Black women into isolation due to systematic injustice, Shange, in her undeniably singular voice, firmly rebuked the idea that we are meant to suffer alone, or at all. For every Black woman and girl drowning in feelings of self-doubt, lovelessness, and victimhood, Shange used her prose to provide love and healing.
Ntozake Shange
Ntozake Shange, author of 36 published works, is increasingly recognized as one of America’s greatest writers having, for 50 years, embodied the struggle of women of color for equality and the recognition of their contribution to human culture. Shange’s literary legacy, preserved in the Shange Institute at Barnard College, comprises 13 plays, seven novels, six children’s books, and 19 poetry collections, the majority of which are published and in print. Her 1974 “choreo-poem,” for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow Is enuf, retains its status as the longest-running play by an African American writer in Broadway history. The 2022 Broadway revival of for colored girls garnered seven TONY Award nominations. She has been posthumously inducted into both the NY State Writers and the Off-Broadway Alliance Halls of Fame, cementing her legacy as one of the most cherished Black feminist writers of our time.
Dr. Yaba Blay
Dr. Yaba Blay works in service of Black liberation every day. A scholar-activist, cultural worker, and occasional writer, her practice centers Black global experiences, particularly those of Black women and girls. Her research and scholarship engage the Black body, with a particular focus on colorism and skin color politics. Dr. Blay’s commentary is featured in A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond, a permanent installation exhibited in the National Museum of African American History and Culture; and she is the author of the bestselling, award-winning book, One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race.
Tarana Burke
Tarana J. Burke (Foreword), for more than 25 years as activist, advocate, and author, has worked at the intersection of sexual violence and racial justice. Fueled by commitments to interrupt sexual violence and other systemic inequalities disproportionately impacting marginalized people, particularly Black women and girls, Tarana has created and led various campaigns focused on increasing access to resources and support for impacted communities, including the ‘Me Too’ Movement, which has galvanized millions of survivors and allies around the world, and the 'Me Too' international nonprofit organization, founded in 2018. Her New York Times bestselling books You Are Your Best Thing and Unbound have illuminated the power of healing, vulnerability, and storytelling in the movement to end sexual violence.
Imani Perry
Imani Perry (Editor) is the Carol K. Pforzheimer professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and professor of African American studies and women and gender studies at Harvard University. She is the author of seven books, including South to America, winner of the 2022 National Book Award. She is a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award and the Hurston Wright Award, and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award, among others. She has written for The New York Times; The Atlantic; Harper’s; O, the Oprah Magazine; New York Magazine; and The Paris Review. Perry earned her PhD in American studies from Harvard University, a JD from Harvard Law School, an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center, and a BA from Yale College in literature and American studies.