Zen and the Art of Re-visioning History

The Betsy and FIU Present: Zen And The Art Of Re-Visioning History

A conversation with Dr. Kali Nicole Gross, author of A Black Women’s History of the United States and Dr. Heather Russell, Senior Associate Dean @FIU

In centering Black women’s stories, the authors of this book seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women’s unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. The authors offer an examination and celebration of Black womanhood, beginning with the first African women who arrived in what became the United States to African American women of today. A Black Women’s History of the United States reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women’s lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women’s history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.