
Behind the Wall by Tracy Chapman: When a Woman’s Cries for Help Are Heard, but Help Never Comes
Some songs stay with us because they are beautiful. Others stay with us because they tell a truth that society has spent generations trying not to hear.
In 1988, Tracy Chapman released a song called âBehind the Wallâ on her s [...]

Before âI Am Womanâ Became an Anthem, Women Were Fighting to Be Heard: The Story Behind Helen Reddy’s Song
The history behind Helen Reddy's 1972 anthem, the rights women were fighting for, and what her story can teach Survivors about independence, solidarity, and finding their voices.
In 1972, Australian singer Helen Reddy release [...]
Who Did You Have to Become to Survive? A Gentle Introduction to Jungian Self-Reflection for Survivors
Exploring the parts of ourselves we learned to hide, the roles we learned to play, and the freedom to discover who we are today.
Sometimes we become so accustomed to being a certain kind of person that we forget we had other [...]
đ Black Sitcom Halloween Episodes: The Ultimate Watchlist for a Cozy Night In or a Watch Party With Friends
From Martin and Living Single to Girlfriends, Family Matters, Abbott Elementary, and more.
There is something special about revisiting the television shows that made us laugh growing up. The familiar theme songs, the characte [...]

Because They Refused Jim Crow, We Walk Through Different Doors
October 7, 1955: Ella Fitzgerald Arrested After Performing Before an Integrated Audience in Houston
We live inside freedoms that somebody else had to be brave enough to imagine. I am grateful for the people who challenged Jim C [...]

10 Surprising Lessons for Survivors from Gloria Gaynorâs I Will Survive
When most of us hear Gloria Gaynor sing âI Will Survive,â we hear certainty.
We hear a woman who has figured something out. She sounds like she knows where the door is, knows she deserves better and knows she can live without [...]

10 Lessons from The Forever Tree for Black Women, Girls, and Survivors Who Have Learned to Play Small
There is something quietly radical about The Forever Tree.
Tawny Bennett, played by Olivia Washington, is a young Black woman living during the Harlem Renaissance. She is intelligent, knowledgeable and working as an antiquari [...]
10 Lessons for Survivors from Sandy âPepaâ Dentonâs Letâs Talk About Pep
Sandy âPepaâ Denton is known to millions as one of the women who helped change hip-hop. But Letâs Talk About Pep tells another story underneath the records, performances, fame, laughter, relationships and celebrity encounters. D [...]

Tammi Terrell’s Story Reminds Us That Survival Is More Than Staying Alive
When people speak about Tammi Terrell, they often begin with how young she was when she died.
Twenty-four.
They talk about the brain tumor. The interrupted career. The songs she never got to record. The future that was cut sho [...]

7 Reasons Survivors May Want to Read Taraji P. Hensonâs Around the Way Girl
Sometimes the books that stay with Survivors aren't the ones written specifically about surviving.
Sometimes they are simply somebody telling the truth about her life.
Taraji P. Henson's memoir, Around the Way Girl, was pu [...]

Angie Stone, Roberta Flack & Gwen McCrae: The Power of Their Musical Legacy
Angie Stoneâs Music Pulled Us ThroughâAnd Now, Sheâs Gone.
Angie Stone has passed, and somehow, it still doesnât feel real.
During one of my lowest valleys, her music became my guide, my comfort, my reassurance that I [...]

The Wishing Tree With Alfre Woodard: A Beautiful Movie About Finding Your Way Home + Full Movie
Sometimes you want a movie that doesn't demand everything from you.
Something you can put on while folding clothes, answering emails, working on a project, cooking dinner, or finally dealing with that pile of papers that has [...]

How Singing is Surprisingly Good for Your Health
There's a vocal teacher on Youtube that I love, and I wanted to share her with you. Kristel Cherelle's approach reminds me of our choir teachers back in school who had faith in our ability to sing if only we understood technique [...]

10 Lessons Women Can Take From Star Jones, Al Reynolds, and Everybody Who Had Something to Say
There was a time when Star Jones and Al Reynolds seemed to be everywhere.
The proposal came at the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. Then came the enormous wedding, the vendors, the publicity, the photographs, the commentary and eventu [...]

7 Survival Lessons From Eve: Your Life Is Allowed to Have More Than One Act
Some chapters prove you can survive. Others remind you that survival was never supposed to be the whole story.
I love Eve's music.
Let me get that out of the way because, obviously. Tambourine. Love Is Blind. Let Me Blow Y [...]

Vanessa Williams Refused to Become the Worst Thing People Said About Her
Deal with yourself as a individual, worthy of respect, and make everyone else deal with you the same way. -Nikki Giovanni
It was 1984, and Vanessa Williams was surrounded.
Only months earlier, she had made history as the f [...]

Some People Don’t Wait for Affirmation. They Give It to Themselves.
They did not wait for the world to settle the question of their worth. They kept something sacred for themselves: the authority to know who they were.
There is an old story about Diana Ross. "Call her Miss Ross."
[...]

There Are No Children Here: When Survival Makes a Child Grow Up Too Soon
In 1993, Oprah Winfrey starred in a television movie called There Are No Children Here. She played LaJoe Rivers, a Black mother raising her children in Chicagoâs Henry Horner Homes, a public housing development where violence, p [...]

Survivor Affirmations: You Are Not Too Late for Your Own Life
Maybe the life you imagined for yourself was supposed to happen by now.
That is the part we don't always say out loud.
You thought you would have written the book by now. Started the business. Finished school. Traveled. Ma [...]
Steve Harvey Survived the Closed Door Because It Wasn’t His Only Door
There is something Steve Harvey has been saying lately that I think is worth hearing beyond the celebrity story.
Harvey has spoken about conflict he experienced with a powerful television executive and what he believes ha [...]
AFFIRMATIONS AND SELF LOVE
Iâm Allowed to Keep My Distance From What Doesnât Feel Safe
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
You donât need to wait for proof.You donât need to gather evidence.You [...]
HEALING JOURNEY
Your Hormones Are Not Betraying YouâTheyâre Trying to Protect You
Letâs make one thing clear:
You are not crazy.You are not lazy.You are not broken.
You are in a body that has been trying to protect you in ways n [...]
Prayer Is Still Power: A Survivorâs Sanctuary
Prayer has held us when nothing else could.When the world closed its ears.When justice was denied.When even our own voices trembled in silenceâpraye [...]
Affirmations for Women Beyond Respectability
I am worthy because I am human, not because I fit someone else's definition of a "good woman."
I do not have to earn my dignity. It belongs to me.
[...]
10 Lessons from The Forever Tree for Black Women, Girls, and Survivors Who Have Learned to Play Small
There is something quietly radical about The Forever Tree.
Tawny Bennett, played by Olivia Washington, is a young Black woman living during the Har [...]
Are You Still Protecting People Who Never Protected You? 5 Powerful Questions to Break the Cycle
These affirmations are written with tenderness, truth, and a deep honoring of those who carry the ache of being raised by parents who did not do their [...]
12 Free eBooks to Support Your Somatic Healing Journey
Dear Survivor,
They are playing in your face by making you explain. And explain. And explain. Forget them.
All these folks running around protecti [...]
CONFIDENCE/POWER/RESILIENCE
đż Meghan Markle: Affirmations for Those Still Standing
I am still here, and that alone is a victory.
What tried to break me did not get the final word.
My spirit bends, but it does not [...]
SurvivorAffirmations: You Do Not Have to Become a Tragedy Before We See You
Sometimes a woman does not need another person telling her to be strong.
She has been strong all morning.
She got somebody dressed. Found the missin [...]
Affirmations for the Messy Middle of Healing (Not Linear, Not Perfect)
Somebody sold you a lie about healing. They told you it was a staircase â one clean step after another, moving you up and away from the pain until one [...]
HEALTHING JOURNEY
Growing Up in the 70’s | Black Perspective
Gratitude and appreciation to @Kimbar1313 on Tiktok for reminding us that we can be going through difficult times but creating your own joy. In fa [...]
Survivor Affirmation: For Opal Lee, Who Walked Until the Nation Had to Remember
Some people wait for permission.
Opal Lee did something older, wiser, and stronger. She walked.
She walked with history in her bones a [...]
18 Things You Didn’t Know were Invented By Black Women
Just because some people try to keep you unsung doesnât mean your melody is lost. âInnovation is my inheritance, and I multiply it daily. [...]
Youâre Not BehindâYouâre Rebuilding
Letâs go ahead and cancel a lie today:âI should be further along by now.âWhere? According to whom? On whose timeline?
If youâve survived harm, betray [...]
Great Re-Inventors: Eartha Kitt #courage #changeyourlife #comeback
After being blacklisted in the United States in 1968, Eartha Kitt had several choices. She chose to find new doors and soar.
Â
[...]
She Is AMAZING
She Traveled Deep Within: A Spiritual Portrait of Alice Coltrane
âđ˝ For SurvivorAffirmations.com
There are people whose healing path takes them outwardâ
into movements, microphones, and moments of bold declarati [...]
đ¤ď¸ Clarity After Chaos, Grief, and Rain
There comes a moment â after the thunder, after the tears â when the air feels different.
Itâs quieter.
Cleaner.
You can finally see what was [...]
Untold Inventions Of Black Women Inventors That Schools Don’t Teach in Black History
Surviving isnât luckâitâs innovation and strategy. âI create what has never been seen, because innovation runs in my bloodline.â [...]
Survivor Affirmations: I Am Allowed to Be More than My Worst Decision
Maybe we don't have more talented female singers in mainstream markets these days because we never learned how to treat them?Â
There was something [...]
REMEMBER THE BLACK GIRL BEST FRIENDS? đ
Not every Black girl on television was the star.
Some were the friend who walked through the front door without knocking.
The classmate at the l [...]
10 Lessons Women Can Take From Star Jones, Al Reynolds, and Everybody Who Had Something to Say
There was a time when Star Jones and Al Reynolds seemed to be everywhere.
The proposal came at the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. Then came the enormous w [...]
ART HEALS
What âFind 100 Waysâ Teaches Us About Uplifting the People We Love
There are some songs that do not simply play.
They enter the room.
They adjust the light.
They sit beside you with a kind of grown tenderness [...]
12 Free Books to Support Your Trauma Healing Journey
Whether youâre healing from personal trauma, systemic injustice, or generational pain, you deserve tools and support that honor the fullness of your s [...]
Finding Freedom Through Movement: How Dance Becomes a Healing Journey from Abuse đâ¨
So, the fabulous Eartha Kitt was a triple threat. Dancer, singer, and actor. She was also a Survivor.
By every reasonable understanding of the word, [...]
There Are Souls Beyond the Scoreboard: A History Lesson in Hope, Radio, and Second Wind (podcast episode)
We are not living in the time of afterschool specials, radio dedications, and songs that reached through the static to touch a hurting childâs heart.
[...]
JOURNALING/WRITING IN A HEALTHIER WORLD
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