Blackwildgirl: A Writer’s Journey to Take Back Her Superpower is a book about bargains and how we respond to them. Our lives are often shaped by bargains, some made with our consent, most without. These bargains often involve the loss of some essential element of our being. Those who are courageous undertake initiation journeys to recover what was lost in the bargain, so that we can fulfill our destinies and purpose in life.
Inspired by Alice Walker’s journals, Jasmine Mans’ poetry, bell hooks’ black girlhood story, Audre Lorde’s biomythography, Nikki Giovanni’s poems, Maya Angelou’s autobiography, and Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ indigenous stories, Blackwildgirl is a deeply reflective autobiography of acts, stages, scenes, and letters to Love beginning at the age of eight. It is a twelve stage initiation journey through journals to reclaim what was lost in a bargain made by my parents without my consent–my childhood queen superpower. Journey and journal with me to find your own superpower in the Blackwildgirl Companion Journal.
Authentic, vulnerable, and spirit-filled, this captivating and enthralling road map is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the experiences of girls as they seek to become wild women; women who are fierce and fearless; women who are warriors for themselves and others; and women who are committed to excavating and cultivating their spiritual gardens to manifest and fulfill their destiny in the world.
PRE-ORDER: Blackwildgirl and Blackwildgirl Companion Journal on Amazon (Release date, April 2, 2024)
“This is the story of a little Black girl (Blackwildgirl) who knew she was a queen and, in her innocence, shared her knowledge too soon. The world dethroned her, burying her spirit, expecting to asphyxiate her. But the world didn’t know that she was a seed. Germinating underground in the bowels of the earth—almost suffocating—the seed miraculously survives, nourished by nutrients submerged in composting decay. Drinking from dew drops and snatching heat from sunlight, the seed sustains herself, rooting and grasping on to small grains of dirt, offering their hands to her. With a fierce, fiery, and feisty determination, she births herself from her seed coat-womb, detangling from the weeds and the wily ways of the world attempting to sabotage her divine destiny. Pushing through the muck and the mire, bursting forth and rising up, she announces her above-ground presence: her arms, like branches, outstretched; and her breasts, like buds, boldly baring themselves. Her willow, palm-tree spine, bending but never breaking, sways unassuaged in the glorious air of her reclaimed throne. Regal, resurrected, and refusing to be denied her rightful role as an African goddess, Blackwildgoddess blossoms and blooms, radiating rays of love, joy, and hope for other seeds on their journeys.” BLACKWILDGIRL, PROLOGUE EXCERPT
Reviews for "Black Wild Girl"
- Beverly Guy-Sheftall, PhD, founding director of the Women’s Research & Resource Center, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies at Spelman College
“Black feminist scholar Menah Pratt’s Blackwildgirl is a candid, courageous, provocative memoir that makes effective use of her journal entries, which began when she was only eight years old. Making visible the complexities of her unusual family saga during childhood and adulthood, she navigates an uncertain spiritual journey that is instructive and moving. A gift to ‘wild women’ everywhere, the book makes an important contribution as well to the evolving field of Black Girlhood Studies, as well as Women’s Studies, Black Studies, and Womanist Theology.”
Naomi Tutu, ordained minister and daughter of Bishop Tutu
“Menah Pratt has written a book that offers the chance to cry, to be empowered, to be educated, to be healed, to be liberated. This book opens a path for Black women, especially, to claim their place and voice in a world that has diminished them and their contributions. As an academic, senior administrator, Black woman, Black mother, and Black wife, Pratt’s story is an example of how we must demand that our stories and contributions are a valid and important part of any and all discourses. Blackwildgirl might seem to be a book directed to Black women. It is, in the sense that Black women all over the world will be able to identify with the struggles and the victories. However, it is also a book that offers any who cares about justice, about faith, about humanity, and about opportunity to hear and learn from a first-hand account of how racism and sexism impact Black women, their communities, and in fact the larger world. Be ready to cry, to laugh, to mourn, and to celebrate. Most of all, be ready to have your eyes, heart, and mind opened.”