Dear Black Girl gives us encouragement when we need it the most
by Tasha Mays
Dear Black Girl is a collection of letters written to Black girls past and present from a place of love and hope. It is everything I wanted said to me and everything I wanted to say to other Black girls growing up in this world. Every Black girl, from pre-teen on up, needs this in their hands.

Have you ever started a book and immediately known it was going to be an experience you would remember forever? Have you ever started a book, got a little way into it, and already recommended it to everyone you know? It doesn’t happen often, but it’s so special when it does. Dear Black Girl: Letters from Your Sisters on Stepping into Your Power was just that for me.
Dear Black Girl is a collection of letters written to Black girls past and present from a place of love and hope. It’s a self-care book covering all facets of the Black girl experience, complete with a glossary of our slang and cultural sayings, pauses to reflect and write, call-to-actions, and an index for those who already know exactly what type of help they need. The rest of us embark on an uplifting journey of Black Girl Magic, female friendships, found and real family, and sex. No topic is left uncovered. Every Black girl, from pre-teen on up, needs this in their hands.
I’ve often found the expansiveness and inclusiveness of the Black girl experience to be overlooked in favor of satisfying the appetite for Black pain by talking about those deemed ‘troubled’. While these stories are important, there is so much more to being a Black girl. In my interview with Tamara Winfrey-Harris, she shares that she didn’t want her or her correspondents to make any assumptions about anyone’s identity. Dear Black Girl is for all of us; nobody is left out. This five-star read is a gift that is completely inclusive and proves to us Black girls that we are not alone in this society.
Every Black girl, from pre-teen on up, needs Dear Black Girl in their hands.
But Dear Black Girl is also very personal to every experience contained within. I learned so much about the different Black women in pop culture who have been forgotten. For example, CaShawn Thompson who coined the term ‘Black Girl Magic’ in 2013. I can’t believe a random tweet sent to uplift us became a hashtag and cultural phenomenon, eventually being co-opted by companies as a way to attract and market to Black women customers. Black women truly are amazing, but we already knew that and while there is no one way to be a Black girl, there are so many things that—no matter who you are or where you are from—are universally Black girl things.
Limiting beliefs are often imposed on Black girls and women, whether from without or within the community. We are told there is a certain way to carry ourselves. We are told there is a certain path that must be followed to success. The truth is there is never one right way to do anything. “There is no correct way of following your dreams. You simply must make the choice and then start down that path,” advises the book.
Upon finishing it, I felt empowered to make my choice. I was ready to face the world and as a woman in her mid-30s, that means a lot. Dear Black Girl was everything I wanted said to me and everything I wanted to say to other Black girls growing up in this world. Bringing joy to Black girls is so important, and this book brought me so much of it. I want to press it into the hands of all Black girls. I want libraries and leadership programs, mentors and guides to have copies on hand.
By Tasha Mays
TASHA MAYS is a mother, blogger, and some-time booktuber. In her free time, she likes to read and craft. If you don’t see her with a book or at a table crafting, she’s probably sleeping or eating. Find her on Twitter @amaysnreads.
TAMARA WINFREY-HARRIS is the author of the award-winning books The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America and Dear Black Girl: Letters from Your Sisters on Stepping into Your Power. She wants to empower Black girls and women by letting them know that they are not on this journey alone. Find her on Twitter @whattamisaid.

Genres: Non-fiction, Womanism
Pages: 192
"Dear #DopeBlackGirl,
You don't know me, but I know you. I know you because I am you! We are magic, light, and stars in the universe." So begins a letter that Tamara Winfrey-Harris received as part of her Letters to Black Girls project, where she asked Black women to write honest, open, and inspiring letters of support to young black girls aged thirteen to twenty-one. Her call went viral, resulting in a hundred letters from Black women around the globe. In Dear Black Girl, Winfrey-Harris organizes a selection of these letters for young Black girls, modeling how they can nurture their future generations as Black women. Each chapter ends with a prompt encouraging girls to write a letter to themselves, teaching the art of self-love and self-nurturing. Winfrey-Harris' The Sisters Are Alright explores how Black women must often fight and stumble their way into alrightness after adulthood. Dear Black Girl continues this work by delivering personal messages of alrightness for Black women-to-be—and for the girl who still lives inside every black woman, who still needs reminding sometimes that she is alright.
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