"The Strong Black Woman": Book Talk with Author, Marita Golden

Book Talk: "The Strong Black Woman" with author, Marita Golden

November 16 @ 4 - 5 PM PT (7 PM - 8 PM ET)

More Info & RSVP: https://ips-dc.org/events/book-talk-the-strong-black-woman-with-marita-golden/


Join the Institute for Policy Studies as we host Marita Golden in conversation with IPS Director Tope Folarin, about Golden's new book “The Strong Black Woman: How a Myth Endangers the Physical and Mental Health of Black Women”.

For generations, in response to systemic racism, Black women and African American culture created the persona of the Strong Black Woman, a woman who, motivated by service and sacrifice, handles, manages, and overcomes any problem, any obstacle. The syndrome calls on Black women to be the problem-solvers and chief caretakers for everyone in their lives. Never buckling, never feeling vulnerable, and never bothering with their pain.

Golden’s book elucidates how being a Black woman in America is to know that you cannot protect your children or guarantee their safety, that your value is consistently questioned, and that even being “twice as good” is often not good enough. Consequently, Black women disproportionately experience anxiety and depression. Studies now conclusively connect racism and mental health―and physical health.

Also joining the discussion is special guest Dr. Seanna Leath, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia in the Psychology Department who runs the FHIRE Lab. She uses education and psychology to understand the holistic development of Black girls and women within their families, schools, and communities. Specifically, her work focuses on how individual factors (e.g., race and gender identity beliefs) and contextual factors (e.g., friendship groups and community support) promote wellbeing.


ABOUT: Marita Golden

Marita Golden is the author of 19 works of fiction and nonfiction, including the novels The Wide Circumference of Love, and A Woman’s Place and the memoirs Saving Our Sons Raising Black Children in a Turbulent World and Don’t Play in the Sun One Woman’s Journey Through the Color Complex. She is co-founder and President Emerita of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation.