I am a writer. As a Black woman educator and leader, I write books that I wish I could have read. And I write to right and (re)member our story. Two of my books, On Spiritual Strivings: Transforming an African American Woman’s Academic Life (SUNY) and Learning To (Re)member the Things We’ve Learned to Forget  were selected as Critics’ Choice Book Award winners by the American Educational Studies Association (AESA).

My latest book, The Spirit of Our Work: Black Women Teachers (Re)member (Beacon Press) was released November, 2021. It is a book that centers the spiritual lives of Black women educators, bringing together the wholeness of Black women’s lives and work full circle. It is a counter story to what we have forgotten that begins with the premise that Black teachers’ lives and work cannot be limited to the truncated identities as enslaved persons in the Americas that we have learned. Rather, through years of (re)search from Black women who have studied with me in Ghana, I share how Black women teachers and educational professionals heal and resist by (re)membering the length and breadth of Black identities and culture, starting with Africa as the foundation from which to empower themselves and their students. It is definitely the book I wish I could have read as a young woman, one that raises up experiences that have transformed my own life so powerfully — as a teacher, leader and most importantly, as a spiritual being who is (re)membering the greatness of our legacy. That is the spirit of our work.