Carefree Black Girls
A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
One of Kirkus Review's Best Books About Being Black in America
"Powerful... Calling for Black women (in and out of the public eye) to be treated with empathy, Blay’s pivotal work will engage all readers, especially fans of Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism." —Kirkus (Starred)
An empowering and celebratory portrait of Black women—from Josephine Baker to Aunt Viv to Cardi B.
In 2013, film and culture critic Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term #carefreeblackgirls on Twitter. As she says, it was “a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for Black women online.”
In this collection of essays, Carefree Black Girls, Blay expands on this initial idea by delving into the work and lasting achievements of influential Black women in American culture--writers, artists, actresses, dancers, hip-hop stars--whose contributions often come in the face of bigotry, misogyny, and stereotypes. Blay celebrates the strength and fortitude of these Black women, while also examining the many stereotypes and rigid identities that have clung to them. In writing that is both luminous and sharp, expansive and intimate, Blay seeks a path forward to a culture and society in which Black women and their art are appreciated and celebrated.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Culture critic Blay debuts with an exuberant exploration of the ways Black women have defined pop culture. The creator of the viral #CareFreeBlackGirl cultural movement, Blay ventures beyond the "pithy, abstracted, tweet-able" declarations about Black women being "indeed essential to the... global zeitgeist" to offer a kaleidoscopic analysis of how American culture both needs and "belittles" Black female artists and storytellers such as herself. She begins with an incisive look at how pop star Lizzo's body has been politicized and publicized, and closes with an intimate meditation on what it means to live in a body that's become "a reflection of what folks really feel about themselves." Elsewhere, Blay considers the paradox of Cardi B's influence as an "aspirational model" and controversial figure who "represents the fallacies and frailties of celebrity." Throughout, she juxtaposes the cultural figures' stories against her own experience situating herself in a societal hierarchy based on skin color. While these essays are connected by their collective pain, Blay never exploits her own or others' trauma; rather, she offers a way to understand grief while "reaching out for a world where we value not just the representation of Black women but Black women themselves." This fervent work will feel like a balm for many.
