I Don’t Remember a World Before Dolly Parton
I think some artists enter your life so early that you cannot remember becoming a person without them. Their voices get mixed up with childhood itself: the rooms you lived in, the things you loved, the first private discoveries [...]

The Afro-Peruvian Woman Who Started Telling the Story She Couldn’t Find
Natalia Barrera Francis did not have to invent an Afro-Peruvian history. It was already there. Generations of Afro-Peruvian people had lived, worked, created, struggled, raised families, made music, built communities and helped [...]

Survivor Affirmation: I Was Not Raised with Silver Spoons, But with Iron Will
🌟 Affirmation 🌟
I was not raised with silver spoons, but with iron will.The hood taught me rhythm, resilience, and how to breathe through storms.I honor the struggle, but I am not chained to it.I move forward with the fire of m [...]

Gary, Indiana Needs Us Right Now: Here Is How You Can Help
Gary, Indiana is hurting.
On August 11, 2026, powerful storms tore through Northwest Indiana with winds reported as high as 99 miles per hour. Trees came down. Utility poles snapped. Homes were damaged. Electricity disapp [...]

Before MTV: The Hidden Story of the First Black Music Video and the Legacy It Built
There’s something powerful about this moment in history.Not just the music—but the intention behind it.Movement. Precision. Style. Storytelling before the world even had language for it.
This wasn’t just a performance.It was di [...]

🎵 Tennessee: A Prayer for the Weary Soul
I miss the days when there was prayer in hip hop. Vulnerability in hip hop. And baring of the weary sick and tired soul in hip-hop.
“Lord, I’ve really been real stressed, down and out, losin’ ground…”
Those fir [...]

Michael Wright Gave Black Audiences Something Hollywood Still Struggles to Give Us
I am genuinely saddened by the passing of actor Michael Wright.
His family has confirmed that Wright died on August 19, 2026, in Los Angeles. He was 70 years old. His remarkable career stretched across nearly five decades, wi [...]

For the Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Affirmations for Black People Carrying Too Much Hate from Too Many Directions
racism chases us down for miles.....
On this day, the anniversary of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009. It expanded fede [...]

Finding Your Anchor: How to Prioritize What Matters in Times of Chaos
Man speaks out after climbing 19-story building during fire looking for his mother
In times of uncertainty, it is easy to feel pulled in a dozen directions by the noise of the world. This post is a gentle reminder t [...]

Sometimes Healing Has Four Paws: How Pets Can Help Us Through Grief.
Grief does not always announce what it needs.
Sometimes we think we need answers. Sometimes we think we need to be left alone. Sometimes we bury ourselves in work, exercise, responsibilities, television, or anything else [...]
After Jason Arday: Black People Must Be Allowed to Be Human
‘The question is not whether racism exists, but how it manifests.’ Ta-Nehisi Coates
Can you make it past this phrase? I'm having a hard time doing so.
“Cambridge’s diversity poster boy.”
They called that Black man a boy. [...]

Before We Called It Therapy, Black Folks Had the Stage
There is an old kind of healing that many Black Americans know, even if nobody ever gave it a clinical name.
Some of us met it in a church basement.
Some met it underneath hot stage lights in the school auditorium.
Some [...]
Do Not Mistake a Blackout for a Lack of Black American Talent
Is "Woke" Just the Newest Word for an Old Fear? A History. - WE Survive Abuse
One unfortunate reality of anti-Black American racism specifically is periods of blackouts. Take heart with these affirmations. Keep creating your [...]

BLACK GIRL, YOUR CREATIVITY HAS TRAVELED THE WORLD 🌍🤎
Look around.
Hair.
Fashion.
Dance.
Music.
Language.
Beauty.
Humor.
Style.
So much of what Black communities have created has traveled farther than the people who first imagined it could h [...]

SHE DIDN’T HAVE TO REPRESENT EVERY BLACK GIRL 🤎
This may be one of the greatest gifts of having many Black girls in our stories.
Laura could be Laura.
Ashley could be Ashley.
Moesha could be Moesha.
Tootie could be Tootie.
Rudy could be Rudy.
One girl didn't [...]

WE GREW UP WITH THEM 🤎
There's something tender about realizing that some of the Black girls we watched on television aren't girls anymore.
Neither are we.
Kim Fields.
Janet Jackson.
Regina King.
Keshia Knight Pulliam.
Tatyana Ali.
[...]

BLACK GIRLHOOD CAME IN MORE THAN ONE SHADE 🤎
Look back at the Black girls many of us watched growing up.
Kim Fields.
Regina King.
Keshia Knight Pulliam.
Tempestt Bledsoe.
Kellie Shanygne Williams.
Tatyana Ali.
Brandy.
Countess Vaughn.
Reagan Gome [...]

REMEMBER THE BLACK GIRL BEST FRIENDS? 💕
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 locker.
The cousin.
The neighbor.
The girl sitting beside somebody at [...]

BLACK TEENAGE GIRLS HAVE AMAZING STORIES 📺
Before Moesha was writing in her journal, other Black teenage girls had been growing up on our television screens, because Black girls have amazing stories.
Tootie had crushes.
Brenda was finding her way.
Vanessa was te [...]

THEY LET BLACK GIRLS BE LITTLE GIRLS 🎀
There was something precious about watching Rudy Huxtable.
Olivia Kendall.
Judy Winslow.
And the little Black girls who appeared across the sitcoms many of us grew up watching.
They got to be children.
Not symbols [...]
AFFIRMATIONS AND SELF LOVE
🌿 You Were Never Meant to Live for Their Applause (w/playlist)
Survivor, I see you.Maybe you’ve been praised for being strong. Maybe you’ve been ignored for being too real.Either way, too many [...]
HEALING JOURNEY
How to Really Let Go of Past Mistakes and Move Ahead (audio)
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9 Quotes from Maya Angelou to Nourish the Survivor’s Soul (Part 2)
Updated for 2025
🌟 Resilience & Strength
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced [...]
Soul Train Dancer Tamechi Toney Briggs Influenced A Generation & Created Infamous MC Hammer Pants
I've been screaming! No one was going to tell me?
Now all those years watching Soul Train and I did not make this connection when MC Hammer, who I a [...]
Can your brain really regrow after stress or trauma?
Stress, especially chronic or traumatic stress, can shrink parts of the brain — particularly the hippocampus (which handles memory and emotional regul [...]
CONFIDENCE/POWER/RESILIENCE

The Nose That Changed Everything
I come from a generation that watched our celebrities alter their noses — narrowing, reshaping, and refining — just to be seen, to get work, to surviv [...]

Back to Natural
This documentary outlines the ways in which race, identity, and hair are all related and offers a compassionate viewpoint on issues that affect Af [...]
HEALTHING JOURNEY
Survivor Affirmations: I Will Find a Way or Create a Way
Sometimes the way seems impossible until you figure out that you came here to show the world new ways.
Affirmations: I Will Find a Way or C [...]
How to Really Let Go of Past Mistakes and Move Ahead (audio)
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WE Gotta Learn to Give People Care, Respect, and Love Before They are Gone (w/video)
We can be so cruel to one another.
We are the reason that we hide from one another and turn away from each other.
When the mother of his firs [...]
💥 Boundaries Are Health Care (Yes, I Said What I Said)
Let’s go ahead and set the record straight:Boundaries are not rude.They’re not mean.They’re not "doing too much."They are health care.
That’s right [...]
Different Go-Go, Same Refusal to Disappear into Misery
I just discovered something beautiful.
There are two kinds of “GoGo.”
One was born in Washington, DC.
One comes from Tanzania.
And somehow [...]
She Is AMAZING
Ketty Lester: Honor the Firsts, Remember the Closed Doors
Ketty Lester deserves more than a passing mention. She deserves the kind of appreciation that slows the room down.
Born Revoyda Frierson in Hope, Ark [...]
She Traveled Deep Within: A Spiritual Portrait of Alice Coltrane
✍🏽 For SurvivorAffirmations.com
There are people whose healing path takes them outward—
into movements, microphones, and moments of bold declarati [...]
Hajia Gambo Sawaba: She Did Not Wait to Be Allowed
(You should see how elated I am! This series is going to give me those laugh lines we are supposed to hate.)
There are women who were toldto stay sma [...]
Women Are the Source, Not the Punchline
“It is not inclusive to sit silent while people mock the beauty and humanity of women. That is not progress—it is plain old misogyny. The same misogyn [...]
SHE DIDN’T HAVE TO REPRESENT EVERY BLACK GIRL 🤎
This may be one of the greatest gifts of having many Black girls in our stories.
Laura could be Laura.
Ashley could be Ashley.
Moesha could b [...]
The Architecture of Change: Lessons from the Japanese “Renewal Years”
The Japanese word for menopause is kōnenki (更年期), and the linguistic and cultural nuances behind it are quite beautiful and distinct from many Western [...]
ART HEALS
10 Inspiring Quotes from Survivor Queen Latifah
The extraordinary and deeply gifted Queen Latifah has always been intentional about protecting her private life. That boundary deserves respec [...]
PBS Newshour: A Brief But Spectacular take on living like we’re dying
To love deeply is to live joyfully.
[...]
They Went to a Jamaica Retreat Before a Hurricane and Found Belonging
I am a fan of how people from the African diaspora give love and how we embrace others.
There are seasons when life feels like a storm that just won [...]
JOURNALING/WRITING IN A HEALTHIER WORLD
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