In 2017 at the Women’s March in Washington, Rachel Cargle posed holding protest signs with friend and activist Dana Suchow in front of the U.S. Tiktok: Instagram: Twitter: Facebook: therealrynnstar.“I certainly didn’t expect to have a half million followers at any point in time.” “I never really set out for it to be this big thing,” Chambers told USA TODAY. The death of George Floyd got her to do more research into racial equity. With more than 600,000 followers and 48 million likes, Chambers has become one of the most important creators raising awareness of the Black experience and racism on TikTok, which has been criticized for promoting white voices over Black voices.Ĭhambers says she’d been on TikTok for five years but spent more time watching videos than making them until the pandemic. “Why is Rosa Parks the only black activist we learn about?” also brought her attention as she examined how Parks came to be the face of the 1955-56 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.
It was reposted again and again and has 2 million views. The video, labeled “About y’alls favorite ‘statistics,’ ” blew up overnight. So shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up.” “And all those stupid stats that you keep using are operating off a small sample size. And white perpetrators are undercharged, so of course they have lower rates of crime,” she sang. “Black neighborhoods are overpoliced, so of course they have higher rates of crime. So the 28-year-old elementary school music teacher from North Carolina opened up TikTok and added her own commentary, in song form. In June, Erynn Chambers watched a TikTok video from drag queen Online Kyne, talking about how statistics are manipulated to make it appear that Black Americans are more violent. Ultimately, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about a Black woman reclaiming her power after being forced to hide behind the shadows of men by a patriarchal society.With more than 562,000 followers and nearly 40 million likes, Erynn Chambers has become one of the most popular creators raising awareness of the Black experience and anti-Black racism on TikTok. The only person who knows the truth about Janie’s story is her best friend, Pheoby Watson, to whom she recounts her adventures. When Janie settles back in her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, after her third marriage, there is a lot of gossip between the townspeople about what happened to her young husband, Tea Cake.
Her quest takes her through three marriages that all play a role in her personal growth. It tells the story of Janie Crawford, an attractive and independent Black woman, on her quest to discover her identity and power. During her lifetime, Hurston published four novels, including her most famous work, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Zora Neale Hurston was unarguably one of the most celebrated and influential Black women writers of the early 20th century and is still a huge inspiration to young Black writers today. These works deserve to not just be consumed, but celebrated.īuying these women's books will have even more of an impact when that purchase supports a Black-owned bookstore (worth noting: many books may be backordered due to high demand, but you can still put your name down on the waitlist).
That means supporting the talented Black women who discuss racism in their writing, yes, but also those who focus on themes like identity, violence, feminism, and Black joy-because Black women are more than their trauma.
More Than Enough by former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth taught me not to accept less than what I deserve and to define my own path as a Black woman in media.Ĭonsider these 15 books by Black women essential reading for how to actively combat racism. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, for example, taught me not to rely on a relationship to define myself and how to be an independent Black woman. These titles have also helped me discover my inner power. Now, when the world is finally calling for anti-racism, I find myself turning to the voices of Black women who've written books, paving the way for today's writers, activists, educators, healers, and change-makers.Īs a Black woman, I've found the work of writers such as Audre Lorde and Angela Davis has helped me understand the larger role of Black women in society. Johnson during the Stonewall uprising of 1969, and more recently, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Khan-Cullors, who founded the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013. Think: Angela Davis and Assata Shakur of the Black Liberation movements of the 1960s and '70s, Marsha P. At the forefront of social movements combating police brutality and systemic racism, there have always been Black women.