WE Matter! Intersectional Anti-Racist Feminist Interventions with Black Girls and Women

Increasingly, social, cultural, and political discourse is deeming Black women and girls to be a critical group to engage. We are told their lives should matter, and yet, there is also overwhelming evidence that Black women and girls continue to be what Malcolm X declared, "The most neglected person in America". This critical volume engages a conversation at the intersection of the fields of education and psychology among recognized Black women scholars that contemporizes the discourse about Black women?s and girls? diversity, their sociocultural contexts, and various approaches to communal and clinical work with them to support their mental health, wellness, and thrivance.

WE Matter!: Intersectional Anti- Racist Feminist Interventions with Black Girls and Women is a significant new contribution to Black Studies, Mental Health, and Gender Studies, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Sociology, Psychology, Education, and Politics.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Women & Therapy.

Introduction Complexifying What it Means to be Black and Female 1. Black Women: Then and Now 2. Developing a Black Feminist Analysis for Mental Health Practice: From Theory to Praxis 3. Embodying Strength: The Origin, Representations, and Socialization of the Strong Black Woman Ideal and its Effect on Black Women’s Mental Health 4. Strong Like My Mama: The Legacy of “Strength,” Depression, and Suicidality in African American Women 5. Voices Unheard: An Intersectional Approach to Understanding Depression among Middle- Class Black Women Conversations across Generations 6. “Why Doesn’t Anyone Help Us?”: Therapeutic Implications of Black Girls’ Perceptions of Health 7. Analyzed Selfie: Stereotype Enactment, Projection, and Identification Among Digitally Native Black Girls 8. Using Hair-Combing Interactions to Enhance Relationships between Black Women and Girls Impacted by Homelessness 9. Caregivers for the Elderly: Clinical Issues and Intervention Clinicaland Training Implications 10. Still We Rise: Psychotherapy for African American Girls and Women Exiting Sex Trafficking 11. Invisible Bruises: Theoretical and Practical Considerations for Black/Afro-Latina Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse 12. Living in the Margins: Intersecting Identities and Clinical Work with Black Women 13. Training and Supervision Needs of Practitioners Working with African American Women

Wendi S. Williams is a celebrated scholar, author, and educator, who has committed her life’s work to educate teachers, institutions, policymakers, advocates, and the general public on the intersections of education and psychology. Her work threads the intersection of psychology and education with Black women’s liberatory leadership practices to understand our everyday lived experiences and influence organizational health.