Marita Golden - The Strong Black Woman How a Myth Endangers the Physical and Mental Health of Black Women.

Praise for The Strong B lack Woman

If ever there was a book for these times, for Black women, for Black People and for all people of all races and genders, The Strong Black Woman is it. Both painful and hopeful, instructive over that which could be, and all too often is, destructive, Marita Golden provides, in her words, a healing balm even for those who believe they hav e no need.

Through her own often-painful history and revealing glimpses of other women who have had to work through pain many would find unimaginable, Goldens journey is along a road that, in the end, is filled with trees bearing fruit of a very special life and lives, thankfully shared by one of our most powerful writers.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, American civil rights activist, journalist, and former foreign correspondent for NPR, CN N, and PBS

Necessary and relevant, The Strong Black Woman shows the time is now to let go of what no longer serves you. Lovewhether it is loving others or yourselfis the most important thing. It is a doorway for compassion, kindness, gratitude and well-being. Marita Goldens moving personal narrative invites you to step through a new door; to be with yourself, and ultimately, to love yourself in only the way you know how.

Bridgitte Jackson-Buckley, blogger, interviewer, memoirist, and author of The Gift of Crisis

Part poetic meditation, part research-driven journalism, Marita Goldens The Strong Black Woman examines the issues surrounding Black womens health and delves into the history of oppression that continues to endanger Black women today. Golden is adept in her prose and delivers a bold, honest, unflinching gaze at the myriad issues impacting Black women. She emboldens her readers to become New Age Strong Black Women who prevail over their history and rise from the ashes of the past with a brave understanding of what it means to be Black and female in the world today. These essays are creative, inventive, and n ecessary.

M.J. Fievre, educator, editor, playwright, and author of the Badass Black G irl series

Marita Goldens The Strong Black Woman busts the myth that Black women are fierce and resilient by letting the reader in under the mask that proclaims Black dont crack. Golden shows all the cracks and fissures in a clear, ringing voice that examines a multitude of issues facing Black women today. In revealing whats really under the mask of strength Black women wear, Golden exposes the vulnerability of Black women, but also manages to forge a new vision of Black femininity that is stronger and more resilient than anyone has imagined. The Strong Black Woman is important to consider when reflecting on the #MeToo era, and should be required reading for anyone who considers herself to be a feminist. It illuminates the present while scouring the past, and points to a future where Black women can be vibrant, healthy, and equally considered members of society.

Karen Arrington, coach, mentor, philanthropist, and author of NAACP Image Award-winning Your Next Level Life

In The Strong Black Woman , Marita shares her own joys and pains and what has made her the literary force we know. Through the art of storytelling and the wisdom garnered through her research we are able to experience the truth, that the strong Black woman is not just a troupe that is the reflection of our trauma, but is the truth of our brilliance. The book does what Marita has always done, use story to offer Black women a reflection of our lives and a way to grow. Strong Black Woman is as much an act of literary activism as every effort that Marita Golden puts forth. Bravo for writing a book that will long benefi t us all.

Zelda Lockhart, author of the novel Fifth Born

The Strong Black Woman shatters the myth and the burden that too many of us have carried for too long while holding up villages and fighting for justice. By the end of the first chapter, I was nearly in tears. I was ready to send the book to my mother, sisters, cousins, nieces, and best friends. The Strong Black Woman gives us explanations for the pain and histories that our mothers couldnt or wouldnt tell us, a book that is required reading for every personBlack, White, man, woman, and childwho wants to remain healthy and survive in a world that wants o therwise.

DeNeen L. Brown, award-winning writer for The Washington Post and producer of the documentary Tulsa the Fire and the Forgotten

Other Books by Mar ita Golden

Us Against Alzheimers: Stories of Family, Love, and Faith

The Wide Circumferen ce of Love

Living Out Loud: A Writer s Journey

The Word: Black Writers Talk About the Transformative Power of Reading a nd Writing

Its All Love: Black Writers on Soul Mates, Family a nd Friends

After

Dont Play in the Sun: One Womans Journey Through the Col or Complex

The Edge of Heaven

Gumbo: An Anthology of African-Americ an Writing

A Miracle Every Day: Triumph and Transformation in the Lives of Sing le Mothers

Saving Our Sons: Raising Black Children in a Turbu lent World

Skin Deep: Black Women and White Women Write About Race

Wild Women Dont Wear No Blues: Black Women Writers on Love, M en and Sex

And Do R emember Me

A Wom ans Place

Long Dis tance Life

Migrations of the Heart: An Aut obiography

First Page to Finished On Writing and Living the Wri ters Life

The
Strong
Black
Woman

How a Myth Endangers the Physical
and Mental Health of Black Women

By Marita Golden

Coral Gables

Copyright 2021 by Marita Golden.
Published by Mango Publishing, a division of Mango Publishing Group, Inc.

Cover Design: Roberto Nuez
Cover Photo: Kittiphat/Adobe Stock
Layout & Design: Katia Mena
Interior Illustrations: sunward5/Adobe Stock

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2850 S Douglas Road, 2nd Floor
Coral Gables, FL 33134 USA

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The Strong Black Woman: How A Myth Endangers the Physical
and Mental Health of Black Women

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2021942396
ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-683-9, (ebook) 978-1-64250-684-6
BISAC category code BIO002010, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / African American & Black

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Molly Reid, my mother, Beatrice Reid, and my sister, Jean Straughn, all Strong Black Women who, in different ways, showed m e the way.

To Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, whose love of Black people inspired the Black Lives Matter Movement.

And to Bree Newsome Bass, who on June 27, 2015, scaled a thirty-foot pole to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House grounds, ten days after the massacre of nine Black people attending a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal prayer meeting by a White supremacist. On July 10, 2015, the Confederate flag was permanentl y removed.