Nevertheless, Black women mobilized and served as beacons and stabilizers throughout it all. There was Kamala Harris making history as both the first Black American and Asian American woman to run for Vice President on a major party ticket. And the nonbinary activist Janaya Khan delivering live Sunday Sermons speaking to a range of pressing issues including “the ways in which we casually throw aside Black women, trans women of color, and all the in-betweens;” BLM founder Patrisse Cullors leading live Daily Digests, in which she’d give a debrief about the latest developments in the social justice movement and talk viewers through how to keep showing up to convert heartbreak, outrage, and fatigue into action; and on a lighter but no less impactful note, TikTok star Tabitha Brown talking her nearly 4.5 million-strong following through trauma with mellifluous-voiced humor, wisdom, and vegan food.
Black women had become the face of a historic year, once again blanketing September issue magazine covers, their faces next to cover lines that read like protest slogans (“The Time Is Now” on T magazine), their portraits taken by fellow Black women (Amy Sherald’s touching painting of Breonna Taylor for Vanity Fair), and in the cases of American and British Vogue, serving as the look of hope.
We continued to show up.
“How are you doing in the midst of all of this?” I WhatsApped one of my closest friends shortly after footage of a police officer shooting an unarmed Jacob Blake in front of his three children was released. “Girl,” she replied. The word spoke multitudes. She didn’t need to say more, but she did. “I’m still here. I’m still rising.”
Acknowledgments
I could not have written this book without Matthew McGuinness, the great love of my life and father of my two boys. Thank you for giving me the time and space to do this, for being a constant sounding board and creative partner. For listening to me workshop my essays in the ungodly hours of the night when you wanted to just roll over and fall asleep but always stayed up to read and give me feedback first. Thank you to my mother and father, Precious and Kelvin, for giving me the boundless love, support, friendship, and courage to go out into the world and take risks by constantly reminding me that I can always come home. Thank you for the example of your life and love. And for always inspiring me to do better. In a way, this book starts with my parents, because they were the beginning of me.
To my sister, April, and to my girlfriends, Amy and Kathleen, I see you. I love you. I am forever grateful for you and the safe space that we have between us. My girls! Thank you for being my sounding board, answering my many, many, many calls, texts, and WhatsApps throughout this whole writing journey.
Thank you to Candice Carty-Williams, Ebele Okobi, Freddie Harrel, Jessica Horn, and Funmi Fetto for contributing your powerful stories. Reading your words reminded me all over again (not that I ever needed reminding!) why I love Black women.
Big gratitude to my agent Kate, who helped me take Girl from a germ of an idea during a catch-up call to completion and who championed the book with heartwarming enthusiasm from day 1, shepherding it through these COVID times.
A heartfelt thank you to my editor, Tara Parsons, and the Amistad and HarperCollins team for the opportunity. Tara, from the moment we first spoke, I knew that you got the book. Thank you for making the experience of being edited an energizing one.
And a special thank you to the women in my family who had an indelible impact on me: my late grandmother Bessie and late aunt Verna, as well as my aunt Gloria, my aunt Gail, and my cousins Ruth, Jenez, and Camille. Thank you to my former Professor Deborah McDowell for allowing me to see firsthand what I knew I wanted to be: an author.
I’m eternally grateful for my dear friends: Michelle, Tola, Nana, Melinda, Khalilah, Rosa, Roger, Malcolm, Lauren, Sherry, Luella, Ije, Chiemeka, Mitzi, and Tina for all the years of love.
And last, but not least: my beloved, effervescent sons, Cosmo and Bruno. Thank you for your patience with me as I wrote this. Long weekends of Lego and Minecraft await.
About the Author
KENYA HUNT is the fashion director of Grazia UK. Her career spans working for some of the media world’s most influential women’s titles on both sides of the Atlantic from her post-graduate days as an assistant editor at the seminal magazine Jane to her years as deputy editor of ELLE UK. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Evening Standard, Vogue, and other publications. And she has made a number of appearances on BBC’s Woman’s Hour, Sky News, and more. She lives south of the river in London with her husband and two sons.
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Copyright
Extracts here from Fran Sanders, “Dear Black Man,” in The Black Woman: An Anthology, ed. Toni Cade Bambara (New York: Washington Square Press, 2005).
Extract from Toni Morrison speech here from Portland State University, Toni Morrison, Primus St. John, John Callahan, Judy Callahan, and Lloyd Baker, “Black Studies Center public dialogue, Pt. 2” (1975). Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers, 90. http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/11309.
GIRL GURL GRRRL. Copyright © 2020 by Kenya Hunt. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover art: Hadil Mohamed
Cover design: Stephen Brayda
FIRST EDITION
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hunt, Kenya, author.
Title: Girl gurl grrrl : on womanhood and belonging in the age of black girl magic / Kenya Hunt.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Amistad, 2020
Identifiers: LCCN 2020025876 | ISBN 9780062987648 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780062987655 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Women, Black. | African American women. | Women—Identity. | Racism. | Self-esteem in women. | Self-realization in women.
Classification: LCC HQ1163 .H86 2020 | DDC 305.48/896073—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025876
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Digital Edition DECEMBER 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-298765-5
Version 10142020
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-298764-8
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