Blackwildgirl Companion Journal: Finding Your Superpower

(Paperback)

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Description

Journal along, responding to prompts and questions as part of an interactive adventure exploring the private life and journals of Blackwildgirl, a young Black girl, beginning at the age of eight, as she struggles and evolves from a tennis player, musician, and college student to become a wife, mother, lawyer, scholar, writer, and eventually, Blackwildgoddess. Use the journal to reflect on your own life to document revelations and reflections during each of the twelve stages of Blackwildgirls initiation journey in America and the African diaspora. Explore how writing can unearth and give life to powerful, sassy, and willful spirits.

The book and companion journal allow readers to also become writers, excavating and cultivating the spiritual gardens of their lives and finding their superpower.

Reviews

"Once upon a time, Before time could be counted, Soft words were spoken, Then a song was sung, And a seed hearing those sounds followed them out, To become a part of the newness, To become a part of this warmth, To Become . . . to become, to become a journey into Girlhood. Menah Pratt follows That sound to That warmth to That possibility and invites us to travel with her."
--Nikki Giovanni, poet

"Blackwildgirl encourages all of us to reclaim our superpowers and be change-agents in life."
--Katrina M. Adams, author of Own the Arena and former CEO of United States Tennis Association

"Menah Pratt has written a book that offers the chance to cry, to be empowered, to be educated, to be healed, to be liberated. This book opens a path for Black women, especially, to claim their place and voice in a world that has diminished them and their contributions. As an academic, senior administrator, Black woman, Black mother, and Black wife, Pratt's story is an example of how we must demand that our stories and contributions are a valid and important part of any and all discourses. Blackwildgirl might seem to be a book directed to Black women. It is, in the sense that Black women all over the world will be able to identify with the struggles and the victories. However, it is also a book that offers any who cares about justice, about faith, about humanity, and about opportunity to hear and learn from a first-hand account of how racism and sexism impact Black women, their communities, and in fact the larger world. Be ready to cry, to laugh, to mourn, and to celebrate. Most of all, be ready to have your eyes, heart, and mind opened."
--Naomi Tutu, ordained minister and daughter of Bishop Tutu

"Black feminist scholar Menah Pratt's Blackwildgirl is a candid, courageous, provocative memoir that makes effective use of her journal entries, which began when she was only eight years old. Making visible the complexities of her unusual family saga during childhood and adulthood, she navigates an uncertain spiritual journey that is instructive and moving. A gift to 'wild women' everywhere, the book makes an important contribution as well to the evolving field of Black Girlhood Studies, as well as Women's Studies, Black Studies, and Womanist Theology."
--Beverly Guy-Sheftall, PhD, founding director of the Women's Research & Resource Center, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women's Studies at Spelman College, author of Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought, and coauthor of Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities

"Part spellbinding memoir and part luminous teaching, this book shattered my complacency and opened my heart. Sensual and smart, dignified and vulnerable, Menah Pratt manages to simultaneously deconstruct white supremacy and celebrate the Divine Feminine as Black Woman. I haven't been this excited by an emerging voice in a long time. Blackwildgirl ought to be required reading for anyone longing to reclaim their own deepest, fullest humanity."
--Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy and God of Love

"At a time when centering Black narratives is more important than ever (indeed, there is no time when they haven't been crucial), Dr. Pratt's memoir is a beautiful, raw, and honest tale of the author's journey from a Blackwildgirl to a Blackwildwoman who has acquired a lifetime's worth of 'wild woman wisdom.' Dr. Pratt tells her tale through the various components of a theater play, complete with acts, stages, and scenes, with original journal entries and poems. Each section will engage you further--as if you were sitting in the front row as both an audience member and, at times, a character yourself. An invaluable book that authentically honors the true power of storytelling told from the impactful voice of a mighty Blackwild woman herself, full of life, spirit, and strength. Thank you for this gift, Dr. Pratt."
--Aurora Chang, PhD, professor and Director of Faculty Development and Career Advancement at George Mason University

"Blackwildgirl is filled with hope, professional advice, and familiar struggle that most Women of Color endure in their professional and personal lives. All would benefit from reading this almost sacred and critical text. The author's spirituality knows no bounds: Africana philosophy, Womanism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam salt and pepper the pages of this book. A pure heart is enveloped in front of our eyes, with deep reflection. She reminds us of Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Oprah Winfrey. Her visionary and spiritual voice meld into one, going from a Moonlight Sonata to hip-hop and the Psalms. In her feminist hands the act of crying becomes an act of transparency and empowerment, it rises to healing and refurbishing the spirit on the table of our consciousness, not in the closet. Her writings do hold 'the power of the divine, ' which is brought to us through the spiritual talent of her writing voice. This writing relays to us the life of a disciplined athlete, scholar, wife, mother, leader, daughter of an immigrant, breaking stereotypes about Africans, African Americans, womanhood, motherhood, and social class. There is so much beauty, so much hope, so much resilience, and knowledge in a beautiful but challenging life."
--Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs, PhD, professor of modern languages and cultures and women, gender, and sexuality studies at Seattle University

"Through a flow of journal entries that include poems and meditations, we experience oppression, racism, and disrespect viscerally as the author takes us inside her heart and her head through autoethnography that relates the personal to the public. Combining the work of Black literary figures such as Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni with Black feminists like Audre Lorde and bell hooks, she interrogates the raw, the painful, and the truthful aspects of growing up in America. This is a story of resilience and resonance, a story that causes readers to understand the role of Whiteness in racism in a meaningful way. This is a great way for professors and students to understand the role of institutional and individual racism from the inside out."
--Kris Tilley-Lubbs, PhD, associate professor emerita at Virginia Tech and author of An Introduction to Critical Autoethnography and Education: The Vulnerable Researcher (2023)

"This honest and timely book illuminates necessary burials and rebirths that occur following the many and varied 'setups' Black girls navigate. It asks readers to consider the spirit and psychic costs of taming Black girls and interrogates what resides at the nexus of Black girlhood, spirit, and education. A revelatory story about migration, Black women's audacity, and family affirms this book as a must-read for those committed to Black girls' and women's non-negotiable liberation and for Black women journeying to reclaim their wildness and freedom."
--Dominique C. Hill, PhD, assistant professor of women's studies at Colgate University

"Blackwildgirl is the righteous telling of a Black feminist search for self through reflection and self-validation and through decades of journaling, prose, and poetry. This searing, visceral, vulnerable self-exploration is also an invitation to Black women to find our soft, vulnerable, Blackwildgirl selves, to excavate her from the hidden, neglected, and forgotten places, and to reunite her with our Blackwildwoman. Pratt demonstrates remarkable vulnerability in detailing the trauma, disappointments, and pain she has experienced throughout her life and offers her deep reflections as a Black feminist/womanist gift. She generously allows us to join her journey using her own experiences as an invitation for us to grapple with the thoughtful reflection questions she offers us to keep working on our Blackwildwomen selves. This Black feminist/womanist gift will no doubt have a profound impact on the lives of all the Black women who engage this love offering: a wake and an awakening, a sunrise and a libation. It is a gift to Black women in this realm and the next who have and continue to mourn, celebrate, reckon with, imagine, and heal."
--Andrea N. Baldwin, PhD, associate professor of Black feminisms at the University of Utah and author of A Decolonial Black Feminist Theory of Reading and Shade: Feeling the University (Routledge 2021)

"Blackwildgirl is a love letter to Black feminism and Blackwildgirls across the diaspora. Through an elegant infusion of poetry, letters, autobiography, and Black feminist praxis, Pratt makes clear that work that centers Black women and Black womanhood is necessary when it comes to the exploration of race, gender, and spirituality. A natural storyteller, Pratt provokes you to think deeper and to feel deeper. A truly satisfying read, Blackwildgirl will leave readers breathless, while simultaneously providing space for critical reflection. Pratt is truly touched by the grace of the ancestors as she draws us into her world, wraps readers in her spiritual journey, and leads them toward a clearer understanding of the complexity and beauty of this world and those beyond comprehension. This is one memoir you will want to read time and time again."
--Letisha Engracia Cardoso Brown, PhD, assistant professor of
sociology at the University of Cincinnati

Author Bio

Menah Adeola Eyaside Pratt is a nationally recognized and diversity-award winning author of four books on race, gender, and diversity, and the founder of the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy National Conference. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Normal, Illinois, she received a BA and MA from the University of Iowa and an MA, PhD, and JD from Vanderbilt University. She currently serves as Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Diversity and a professor of education at Virginia Tech. Pratt lives and works in Blacksburg, Virginia.