Our Brave Foremothers: Workman Press, 2023

 

Our Brave Foremothers: Celebrating 100 Black, Brown, Asian & Indigenous Women Who Changed the Course of History (Workman, 2023) is on sale now at all booksellers!

Over 200+ pages, beautifully illustrated by the incredible artist Joelle Avelino, author Rozella Kennedy uplifts an intergenerational, intercultural bouquet of Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women who will light up your life!

From Etel Adnan to Mary Jones, Thelma Garcia Buchholdt to Pura Belpré to Zitkála-Šá, meet 100 amazing foremothers—women of color who left a lasting mark on US history, some famous, some little-known, all passionate, impactful, and incredible!

Following each entry is a prompt that asks you to connect your life to theirs, an inspiring way to understand their influence and the power of their stories.

To consider on a deeper level the devotedness of Clara Brown, the fearlessness of Jovita Idár, the guts of Grace Lee Boggs, or the selflessness of Martha Louise Morrow Foxx. And to be as brave as we each can be—and then beyond that.

*****

Explore ten of the portraits below:

There is a compelling backstory behind Brave Sis Project which manifests in this book. Namely, the intersection of history, "DEI" (diversity, equity, inclusion), representation and justice and whether history/stories are marginalized or mainstreamed, my suppressed southern roots as part of the history of Black migration in the 20th century, the magic of listening to sister/mother ancestral voices, and the whole meta inquiry around what does it mean to be in our Black legacy, and/or a proud BIPOC woman bending toward solidarity with other "women of color" ... not to mention of course , how white women show up in true allyship (which starts with decentering the default whiteness narrative, which this book does so lovingly).