By Temitope Ogunleye (she/her)
Part 4 of 4
This series contains discussions of misogyny, police brutality, racism, and sexual violence
The body is one medium. The voice is another. When the world refuses to see, Black women speak. Through poetry, prose, oral storytelling, and performance, they name what has been buried. Writing becomes a form of presence. Voice becomes a form of visibility (Caesar, 2020).
In apartheid South Africa, Phyllis Ntantala wrote of women who bore the weight of colonial labor systems (Caesar, 2020). Miriam Tlali, one of South Africa’s first Black female novelists, used fiction to depict authentic realities of Black women, and how deeply personal moments can be political and liberating all the same (Clayton, 1990; Miller, 1998).
Audre Lorde (1985) developed the idea that written work is not a luxury, but a necessity for women. It is a mode to name the nameless so that actions, ideas, and change can follow (Miller, 2021). In Need, Lorde exemplified this, addressing the silence and hypocrisy within Black communities when it came to protecting Black women from Black men (Georgoudaki, 1996). In Jamaica, the Sistren Theatre Collective staged plays rooted in the lives of community women, spotlighting concerns and issues drawn from their lived experiences (Kuumba, 2006). In South Africa, the Imfuduso theatre group told stories of forced removals (Kuumba, 2006). These creative works weren’t just stories; they were necessary records of resistance that set the stage for change to follow. For Lorde, poetry embodied this conviction: ‘Our poems formulate the implications of ourselves, what we feel within and dare make real… They are made realizable through our poems that give us the strength and courage to see, to feel, to speak, and to dare’ (Lorde, 1985).
Today, that record continues. Aja Monet, a spoken word poet, confront the silence surrounding the deaths of Black women through their art (Miller, 2021; Monet, 2015). Monet recently penned a poem titled #sayhername and spoke not only of violence, but of erasure and the way even well-meaning movements sometimes forget to say their names. ‘If they mentioned me’, she says, ‘they would have to face their role in it too’ (Miller, 2021). Similarly, Janelle Monáe uses their music to break the silence (Monáe, 2021). In her song, Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout), she names the Black women forgotten and overlooked in the violence:
Rekia Boyd, say her name
Rekia Boyd, say her name
Rekia Boyd, say her name
Rekia Boyd, won't you say her name
Outside the context of violence, in classrooms and workplaces, resistance can look deceptively quiet. A Black girl clears her throat before answering, knowing her voice might be called ‘too much’ (Davis, 2018). A Black woman speaks plainly in a boardroom, correcting the mispronunciation of her name with care and finality. These are not small moments. They are measured acts of self-definition - resistance distilled into gesture. And when the day ends, the voice finds somewhere softer to land. In kitchens filled with the smell of old recipes. In group chats stretched across oceans. In whispered prayers and late-night laughter. These spaces are retreats, where relief is captured in connection.
So, what do Black women reach for when the world dries them out? They reach for one another. For memory. For words. For the body, as archive and witness. This resistance is not always loud, but it is enduring, and to uncover it is to find what was always there: resistance braided with relief, and a future shaped by those who remember.
Read the full series:
PART 1 - Black Women and Alternative Resistance: Architects of Change
PART 2 - Black Women and Alternative Resistance: Dance
PART 3 - Black Women and Alternative Resistance: Nudity
PART 4 - Black Women and Alternative Resistance: Writing and Voice
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References
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Header Image: Say Her Name Vigil remembering victims of police violence, CC 2.0 by The All-Nite Images