APB Exclusive Keisha Blain Releases New Book
29 Mar 2024
New York Times Bestselling Author and Award-winning Historian Dr. Keisha Blain has just released her latest book: Wake Up America: Black Women on the Future of Democracy. In this exhilarating anthology of original essays, Blain brings together the voices of major progressive Black women politicians, grassroots activists and intellectuals to offer critical insights on how we can create a more equitable political future.
These women draw on their diverse experiences and expertise to speak to three core themes: claiming civil and human rights, building political and economic power and combating all forms of hate. We hear from Black Lives Matter Cofounder Alicia Garza, who argues that Black communities must organize to wield increased political power; EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler, who spells out ways to fight for women’s reproductive rights; and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who delineates practical, thorough steps toward tangible reparations.
Additional incisive essays include those by former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner; Prison Abolitionist Mariame Kaba; Disability Rights Activist Andraéa LaVant; Boston’s first woman and first Black Mayor, Kim Michelle Janey; and others at the forefront of the ongoing fight for social justice.
In addressing our most pressing issues and providing key takeaways, Wake Up America serves as a blueprint for the steps we can take right now and in the years to come.
Called one of the most innovative and influential young historians of her generation, Blain’s research and writing examine the dynamics of race, gender and politics from both national and global perspectives.
In addition to Wake Up America, Blain is also the author of Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America; Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited with Ibram X. Kendi; and Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom, which won the First Book Award from the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and the Darlene Clark Hine Award from the Organization of American Historians.
She is the co-editor of To Turn the Whole World Over: Black Women and Internationalism; New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition; and Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism and Racial Violence.