An excellent introduction to ground-breaking Black feminists. It has extensive footnotes and could be used by high school and college students to begin research for a paper. Jackson interweaves their personal story throughout the book which makes it very readable and approachable.

Jenn M. Jackson, PhD, embraces radical truth-telling to craft a love letter to the Black Feminists who have shaped their education, politics and life. While I was familiar with many of the highlighted authors, reading Jackson’s essays inspired me to go back to tho others to learn more. Jackson’s personal reflections added a compelling dimension to each story. The additional works cited at the end expanded the work’s reach by offering a stepping-off point for further reading and research; a crucial tool for future movement organizers, coalition builders and critical thinkers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this advanced reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Drawing from eleven formidable black women who have paved the way in the fight for not just women's rights but black women's rights, Dr. Jackson crafted eleven essays as a self-described love letter to those women and to all black women. The eleven women Jackson chose: Harriet Jacobs, Ida B. Wells, Zora Neale Hurston, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Toni Morrison, The Combahee River Collective, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, and bell hooks were ones I am dismayed I only had heard of or knew about seven of the 11. My education is lacking and clearly should continue. Jackson begins each chapter featuring the chosen woman and the lesson Jackson has learned and attempted to incorporate into their life, and makes the case for all of us - black or white - to incorporate the lesson as well. The lessons are not just applicable to the fight for feminism but perhaps life in general. The lessons they focus on are: freedom, radical truth-telling, reclamation of our labor (and by our they means black women specifically), why we should listen to young people, unrespectability, holding whiteness accountable, black women are powerful, identity politics, solidarity as self-care, anti-racist abolition, and loving expansively. Dr. Jackson then concluded their essays with a chapter about teaching themselves patience. They also provide other sources of inspiration, acknowledging how difficult it was to pick only 11.

I almost didn't review this title with a rating attached as I don't assign ratings to memoirs and this book toes the line, perhaps even crosses it a bit, into memoir from its category of history/politics. But in the end, I did attach a rating to my review to honor the history and political work Jackson put into the title for not just themselves, but for the reader. While I appreciated every single chapter and formidable woman Jackson drew inspiration from and shared with the reader, I do admit feeling like I lost grasp on the thread Jackson was trying to weave during a couple of the chapters (essays). I couldn't quite follow their line of thinking on the lesson they had learned from the woman but that's why it was the lesson they learned in knowing more about that woman's life and advocacy. Perhaps, if I study that woman on my own I would either understand better why Jackson picked that thread or discover my own lesson. Also, because I do not identify as queer, and because I am not a black woman, I may be unable to understand some of these lessons on the level that Jackson and other black women can and do.

This was a worthy read - worth the time to read it, worth the time to consider it, worth the continued education it provides. I'm very appreciative of the work Dr. Jackson put into this title and for their generosity in sharing it with the world at large. I'm also appreciative of how it contributes to my continuing education in black history.

As a black woman I enjoyed this novel. First I would like to say that this cover was very intriguing so it made me want to pick it up since I recognized almost everyone on the cover. I did expect more from the writing as it obviously was a  summary and a call to action of course. I was looking for more than just biographies on each woman. I feel that if it was more than a biography then it would have taken the author's point and genuinely driven the story more than it already has been. I highly recommend this book to every woman as well as males because it truly is something that everyone should read. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher  for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

thank you SO much to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the review copy!

i love what Dr. Jackson did in this book! they look back at the work of Black feminists to provide a framework for how to move forward, towards a just world for everyone. they lift up the voices that are often left out of the conversation, from Ida B. Wells to bell hooks, and examines the work Black feminist leaders engaged in that has laid the foundation for the work today. they show how Black women are minimized and their work erased, but their impact and efforts keep persisting, and how the author was personally impacted in their own revolutionary work by each of the featured women

i highly recommend reading this book and reading more work by all the women featured! Dr. Jackson also blessed us with a reading list at the end. the importance of reading and learning from and uplifting the work of Black women, Black trans women and non-binary folx is essential

As a Black woman, all of these essays resonated with me in different ways. I am in a constant state of learning and I often look to Black women to bring context to my own experiences and to learn and understand experiences completely different than my own. This book is one example among many, that proves that I'm not the only one still on that journey. This book was very centering for me. It felt like I was listening and partaking in a discussion with someone I knew and whose life I recognized. As Jackson intended, this collection of essays feels like a love letter to Black women who have come before us, who have created change, who have left a mark on this world and a mark on Black women specifically. This book feels like a promise to continue learning, to continue seeking out these voices and to continue to uplift and share them. This book feels encouraging. It's obvious that Jackson wants the reader to continue learning, and continue to search for and uplift these voices and the voices of the women we know personally that are doing the work to teach and make change. Jackson created a very intimate work that will help educate and give perspective to anyone that reads this book. I genuinely enjoyed this collection of essays and would highly recommend them..

Jackson reaches for a wide audience with this book, and succeeds. This book is historial summary, mini biographies, memoir and call to action all in one. She makes it work with clear prose, subtitles that shift the reader from topic to topic, and clear thematic through lines for each chapter that connect personal experience to historical struggle. I love that this book appeals to both readers who are new to some of this history and those who are looking to build their knowledge. I most enjoyed Jackson’s personal reflection, as I came to this book with the foundational knowledge of many feminist leaders. Jackson’s work speaks to the idea that none of these actions towards freedom and liberation happen in a vacuum; that Black women stand in a legacy of incredible, radical leaders that have and continue to change the world.

This book was a beautiful primer about revolutionary Black women who changed the world and left a deep impact on the author. Each chapter beautifully summarizes the heroine and her accomplishments, as well as the authors journey and the inspiration she drew from these leaders. This is a great read if you know and love women in Black activism, of if you’re new to Black history and want to learn.

In 1977, the Combahee River Collective wrote, "If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression." Jenn Jackson’s debut pays homage to the Collective and other Black women who led movements for freedom, justice and liberation both in the U.S. and around the globe. From Audre Lorde to Ida B. Wells, Jackson’s eleven critical and thoughtful essays shine a light on these leaders and implore us to learn from their legacies.

A reclamation of essential history and a hopeful gesture toward a better political future, this is what listening to Black women looks like —from a professor of political science and columnist for Teen Vogue.

A very important read that should be required in schools everywhere.

"Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism" by Dr. Jenn M. Jackson is a profoundly insightful and necessary work that brings to light the long-overlooked contributions of Black women to the ongoing struggle for justice and equality. As a therapist who believes in the transformative power of literature, this book struck a chord with me on a personal and professional level.

Dr. Jackson's book is nothing short of a love letter to Black women throughout history, a testament to our resilience, courage, and enduring commitment to the fight for liberation. The author's extensive research and critical analysis shed light on the essential, yet often underappreciated, role that Black women have played in the political and intellectual landscape. Our work, ideas, and sacrifices have been instrumental in shaping movements for racial, gender, and sexual justice, both in the United States and beyond.

In this collection of eleven original essays, Dr. Jackson takes us on a journey through time, introducing us to the voices of Black women who have been at the forefront of modern liberation movements.

This book is an essential read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the roots of modern liberation movements and the remarkable individuals who have paved the way for change. Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!