Sixty-nine authors―African American, Asian American,
Chicana, Native American, Cameroonian, South African, Korean, LGBTQI―lend their voices to broaden cross-cultural understanding and to build
bridges to each other’s histories and daily experiences of life. America Ferrera’s essay
is from her powerful speech at the Women’s March in Washington
D.C.; Natalie Baszile writes about her travels to Louisiana to
research Queen Sugar and finding the “painful truths” her father experienced in
the “belly of segregation;” Porochista Khakpour tells us what it is
like to fly across America under the Muslim travel ban; Lalita
Tademy writes about her transition from top executive at Sun Microsystems
to NY Times bestselling author.
This anthology is monumental and timely as human rights and
justice are being challenged around the world. It is a watershed title, not
only written, but produced entirely by women of color, including the publishing,
editing, process management, book cover design, and promotions. Our vision is
to empower underrepresented voices and to impact the world of publishing in
America―particularly important in a time when 80% of people
who work in publishing self-identify as white (as found recently in a study by
Lee & Low Books and reported on NPR).
We had a lovely time on our “field trip” and heard excerpts
from All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World: Essays on
Equality, Justice, and Freedom by Deborah Santana. The publishing industry
is 79% white and 82% male. That was the motivation to put together this book.
Out of hundreds of submissions, they chose a few for the book. The anthology
includes essays by women from ages 16 to 77. African American, Native American,
Asian American, Muslim, Cameroonian, Kenyan, Liberian, Mexican American, Korean,
Chinese American and LGBTQI women are represented in the collection. https://allthewomeninmyfamilysing.com/contributors/
Each essay is very short (about a 4 minute read)! As the editor tours around
the country, she has people who submitted work from that area come to the book
signing. We heard readings by Lisa Jones about having a child who has cancer
and a black woman (Deborah L. Plummer?) who’s favorite doll was white as
she went through racial identity experiences. Here is the website https://allthewomeninmyfamilysing.com/ Their goal is
to NOTICE who is not in the room and be their voice.
