
Trauma, Tresses, and Truth
Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narratives
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
L. Malaika Cooper
-
By:
-
Lyzette Wanzer
About this listen
Black women continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair.
From grammar and high schools to corporate boardrooms and military squadrons, Black and Afro Latina natural hair continues to confound, transfix, and enrage members of White American society. Why, in 2022, is this still the case? Why have we not moved beyond that perennial racist emblem? And why are women so disproportionately affected?
Why does our hair become most palatable when it capitulates, and has been subjugated, to resemble Caucasian features as closely as possible? Who or what is responsible for the web of supervision and surveillance of our hair? Who in our society gets to author the prevailing constitution of professional appearance?
Particularly relevant during this time of emboldened White supremacy, racism, and provocative othering, this work explores how writing about one of the still-remaining systemic biases in schools, academia, and corporate America might lead to greater understanding and respect.
©2023 Lyzette Wanzer; Foreword copyright 2023 by Afiya Mbilishaka (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Killing the Black Body
- Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
- By: Dorothy Roberts
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a no-holds-barred response to the liberal and conservative retreat from an assertive, activist, and socially transformative civil rights agenda of recent years - using a Black feminist lens and the issue of the impact of recent legislation, social policy, and welfare "reform" on Black women's - especially poor Black women's - control over their bodies' autonomy and their freedom to bear and raise children with respect and dignity in a society whose white mainstream is determined to demonize, even criminalize their lives.
-
-
Terribly sad but very informative. Highly recommend.
- By Jaecey Adams on 01-17-21
By: Dorothy Roberts
-
My Grandmother's Hands
- Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
- By: Resmaa Menakem MSW LICSW SEP
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
-
-
Think You Don't Need This? Think Again, Please!
- By Carole T. on 03-27-21
-
Misogynoir Transformed
- Black Women’s Digital Resistance
- By: Moya Bailey
- Narrated by: Moya Bailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Moya Bailey first coined the term misogynoir, she defined it as the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women, particularly in visual culture and digital spaces. She had no idea that the term would go viral, touching a cultural nerve and quickly entering into the lexicon. Misogynoir now has its own Wikipedia page and hashtag, and has been featured on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time.
By: Moya Bailey
-
Born in Blackness
- Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the "dark" continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies in the heart of West Africa.
-
-
American History World History Our History
- By Bill on 06-13-22
By: Howard W. French
-
Trauma Stewardship
- An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others
- By: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Connie Burk
- Narrated by: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, numb, or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness we so desperately need if we are to benefit humankind, other animals, and the planet itself. Through Trauma Stewardship, we are called to meet these challenges in an intentional way.
-
-
Good book, horrendous narration
- By Liz on 08-30-18
By: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, and others
-
Rest Is Resistance
- A Manifesto
- By: Tricia Hersey
- Narrated by: Tricia Hersey
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace—feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit. In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted.
-
-
What an experience
- By makeba jones on 10-26-22
By: Tricia Hersey
-
Killing the Black Body
- Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
- By: Dorothy Roberts
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a no-holds-barred response to the liberal and conservative retreat from an assertive, activist, and socially transformative civil rights agenda of recent years - using a Black feminist lens and the issue of the impact of recent legislation, social policy, and welfare "reform" on Black women's - especially poor Black women's - control over their bodies' autonomy and their freedom to bear and raise children with respect and dignity in a society whose white mainstream is determined to demonize, even criminalize their lives.
-
-
Terribly sad but very informative. Highly recommend.
- By Jaecey Adams on 01-17-21
By: Dorothy Roberts
-
My Grandmother's Hands
- Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
- By: Resmaa Menakem MSW LICSW SEP
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
-
-
Think You Don't Need This? Think Again, Please!
- By Carole T. on 03-27-21
-
Misogynoir Transformed
- Black Women’s Digital Resistance
- By: Moya Bailey
- Narrated by: Moya Bailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Moya Bailey first coined the term misogynoir, she defined it as the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women, particularly in visual culture and digital spaces. She had no idea that the term would go viral, touching a cultural nerve and quickly entering into the lexicon. Misogynoir now has its own Wikipedia page and hashtag, and has been featured on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time.
By: Moya Bailey
-
Born in Blackness
- Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the "dark" continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies in the heart of West Africa.
-
-
American History World History Our History
- By Bill on 06-13-22
By: Howard W. French
-
Trauma Stewardship
- An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others
- By: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Connie Burk
- Narrated by: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, numb, or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness we so desperately need if we are to benefit humankind, other animals, and the planet itself. Through Trauma Stewardship, we are called to meet these challenges in an intentional way.
-
-
Good book, horrendous narration
- By Liz on 08-30-18
By: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, and others
-
Rest Is Resistance
- A Manifesto
- By: Tricia Hersey
- Narrated by: Tricia Hersey
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace—feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit. In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted.
-
-
What an experience
- By makeba jones on 10-26-22
By: Tricia Hersey
-
The Sum of Us
- What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
- By: Heather McGhee
- Narrated by: Heather McGhee
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all.
-
-
Good book but Recording tech is poor. Glitches
- By Jeannepup on 02-25-21
By: Heather McGhee
-
Hood Feminism
- Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot
- By: Mikki Kendall
- Narrated by: Mikki Kendall
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. Author Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women.
-
-
I Learned So Much!!!
- By Rebecca on 06-13-20
By: Mikki Kendall
-
Becoming Bulletproof
- Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly
- By: Evy Poumpouras
- Narrated by: Evy Poumpouras
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Becoming Bulletproof means transforming yourself into a stronger, more confident, and more powerful person. Evy Poumpouras - former Secret Service agent to three presidents and one of only five women to receive the Medal of Valor - demonstrates how we can overcome our everyday fears, have difficult conversations, know who to trust and who might not have our best interests at heart, influence situations, and prepare for the unexpected. When you have become bulletproof, you are your best, most courageous, and most powerful version of you.
-
-
Not what I had Anticipated, Much Much Better
- By Terry Goodlad on 05-02-20
By: Evy Poumpouras
-
First Gen
- A Memoir
- By: Alejandra Campoverdi
- Narrated by: Alejandra Campoverdi
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alejandra Campoverdi has been a child on welfare, a White House aide to President Obama, a Harvard graduate, a gang member’s girlfriend, and a candidate for U.S. Congress. She’s ridden on Air Force One and in G-rides. She’s been featured in Maxim magazine and had a double mastectomy. Living a life of contradictory extremes often comes with the territory when you’re a “First and Only.” It also comes at a price. With candor and heart, Alejandra retraces her trajectory as a Mexican American woman raised by an immigrant single mother in Los Angeles.
-
-
Must READ for any Latina
- By M. Delatorre on 09-14-23
-
More Than Enough
- Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)
- By: Elaine Welteroth
- Narrated by: Elaine Welteroth, Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this part-manifesto, part-memoir, the revolutionary editor who infused social consciousness into the pages of Teen Vogue explores what it means to come into your own - on your own terms. Throughout her life, Elaine Welteroth has climbed the ranks of media and fashion, shattering ceilings along the way. In this riveting and timely memoir, the groundbreaking journalist unpacks lessons on race, identity, and success through her own journey....
-
-
Disappointing
- By Laurel Avenue on 01-25-20
By: Elaine Welteroth
-
Eloquent Rage
- A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
- By: Brittney Cooper
- Narrated by: Brittney Cooper
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So what if it's true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting. Far too often, Black women's anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that.
-
-
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 Eloquent AF
- By Erica on 03-05-18
By: Brittney Cooper
-
Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed
- 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora
- By: Saraciea J. Fennell - editor
- Narrated by: Avi Roque, Elizabeth Acevedo, Frankie Corzo, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, bestselling and award-winning authors as well as up-and-coming voices interrogate the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. These fifteen original pieces delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes, to memories in the kitchen and travels around the world, to addiction and grief, to identity and anti-Blackness, to finding love and speaking your truth. Full of both sorrow and joy, Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed is an essential celebration of this rich and diverse community.
-
-
Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed is a treasure trove of essays and poems.
- By AuthorAnnaBella on 04-04-22
-
Thick
- And Other Essays
- By: Tressie McMillan Cottom
- Narrated by: Tressie McMillan Cottom
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Smart, humorous, and strikingly original essays by one of “America’s most bracing thinkers on race, gender, and capitalism of our time.” (Rebecca Traister) In these eight piercing explorations on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom - award-winning professor and acclaimed author of Lower Ed - embraces her venerated role as a purveyor of wit, wisdom, and Black Twitter snark about all that is right and much that is wrong with this thing we call society.
-
-
A different perspective
- By ANNE on 08-13-19
-
Minor Feelings
- An Asian American Reckoning
- By: Cathy Park Hong
- Narrated by: Cathy Park Hong
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world.
-
-
Essential
- By Realness on 03-04-20
By: Cathy Park Hong
-
Brit(ish)
- On Race, Identity and Belonging
- By: Afua Hirsch
- Narrated by: Afua Hirsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Afua Hirsch is British. Her parents are British. She was raised, educated and socialised in Britain. Her partner, her daughter, her sister and the vast majority of her friends are British. So why is her identity and sense of belonging a subject of debate? The reason is simply because of the colour of her skin. Blending history, memoir and individual experiences, Afua Hirsch reveals the identity crisis at the heart of Britain today. Far from affecting only minority people, Britain is a nation in denial about its past and its present.
-
-
Important read
- By L. Ingarfield on 01-04-23
By: Afua Hirsch
-
For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts
- A Love Letter to Women of Color
- By: Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez
- Narrated by: Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The founder of Latina Rebels and a “Latinx Activist You Should Know” (Teen Vogue) arms women of color with the tools and knowledge they need to find success on their own terms.
-
-
Must Read for BIWOC
- By Veronica Garcia on 09-24-21
-
How to Raise a Feminist Son
- Motherhood, Masculinity, and the Making of My Family
- By: Sonora Jha
- Narrated by: Sonora Jha
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From teaching consent to counteracting problematic messages from the media, well-meaning family, and the culture at large, we have big work to do when it comes to our boys. Informed by the author's work as a professor of journalism specializing in social justice movements and social media, as well as by conversations with psychologists, experts, and other parents and boys, this book follows one mother's journey to raise a feminist son as a single immigrant woman of color in America.
-
-
A book for the times!
- By Amazon Customer on 08-20-21
By: Sonora Jha