Five Black Writers To Check Out This Week — 07/12/20
Seriously, go read an article by a black writer.
Earlier this week, I announced a call for submission for “Blogger for the Week.” My goal is to use my small but growing platform to highlight bloggers from diverse groups. Since announcing this project, I’ve seen so many blogs from amazing, unique writers. And I can not wait to show them off later this week.
That said, I am still looking for more bloggers. If you (or someone you know) are interested in the weekly post, please click here to learn how to submit your blog for consideration.
Now on to our weekly roundup of articles written by black writers.
Articles to Read This Week
“How a Brooklyn Artist Is Making Black Women Her Focus,” by Sandra E. Garcia (The New York Times)
“Women have been the heroes of the pandemic. They are in the emergency rooms, on the streets delivering packages, in nursing homes, on construction sites, and many are still teaching their students who have been attending school from home.”
Sandra E. Garcia writes an amazing profile on 24-year-old Brooklynite Aya Brown’s, a young artist who draws black essential workers.
“Meet the Black Women Working to Transform the Art Scenes in Three Cities Deemed Least Hospitable to Black Women,” by Melissa Smith (Artnet News)
“Even still, Black women work both within and outside these established systems, tapping in and out through burnout and stress, to make their cities more livable places for artists and creatives.”
Melissa Smith shows how creative black women thrive in environments that are harsh to black women.
“The Us Suffragette Movement Tried To Leave Out Black Women. They Showed Up Anyway,” by Martha S. Jones (The Guardian)
“Racism and sexism were bound together in the fight for women’s votes. When it came to suffrage politics, there was nothing pure about them.”
In partnership with the PBS documentary The American Experience: The Vote , Martha S. Jones discusses how black suffragette’s like Ida B. Wells fought for their rights, despite the pushback from their white counterparts.
“The Black Women Who Launched The Original Anti-racist Reading List,” by Ashley Dennis (The Washington Post)
“The work of dismantling systemic racism does not end with making bibliographies or even reading all of the books on them. Americans must act on what they know. We must demand actual racial justice and equality in education, jobs, health care and housing, now, amid mass protests, and more importantly, we must continue to do so after the protests have subsided.”
Ashley Dennis notes the long and complicated history of black women librarians who created book lists as a way to combat racism.
“If You Want to Experience Liberation, Black Women Must Be at the Table,” by Jocelyn Jackson (Eater)
“I believe Black women have historically taken on this work of food and protest because we are the original caregivers and leaders. We know that our survival is found in our relationships to one another and the land. Our lived experience teaches us that we must develop many different kinds of intelligence to be prepared for a world that often descends into chaos, brutality, and inequity.”
Cook and founder of JUSTUS Kitchen, Jocelyn Jackson, highlights black women from history who use food as a political act.
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