“Unpublished Black History”: This is a really fascinating look at black history giants we think we know all about. Black History Month has long felt like a thing that people, schools especially, acknowledge and participate in because they have to, and they use the same images of these heroes that have now become iconic. It’s exciting and a little surreal to be able to add to narratives that have become, in my opinion, a bit stale over the years.
“A Prison of Her Own”: This is a fascinating story by the very talented Monica Potts on a woman’s struggle with mental health and living in the outside world after her mental illness landed her behind bars many times. Beyond Orange Is the New Black, I don’t think people are thinking or talking about women in prison enough, and that can be a prison of brick or of the mind.
“Black Memoir in 2015: The Year America Broadened Its Canon”: Writer and professor Syreeta McFadden takes us through all the amazing memoirs by black authors that were published in 2015 — a great place to start if you’re looking to diversify your bookshelf!
“My Mother and I Finally Opened Up About Our Depression and Anxiety”: One of my close friends and my favorite writer, Nichole Perkins, splays open her soul and shares a previously un-had conversation between her and her mother about the depression and anxiety they’ve always shared, but never discussed until now. It’s moving and cathartic.