Published in 2023
5 hours and 59 minutes
Rozella Kennedy has dedicated her work and life to uplifting issues of culture, belonging, authentic allyship, and intercultural celebration and solidarity. She is the creator of the Brave Sis Project and the Director of Impact and Equity for the global consulting firm Camber Collective. A native New Yorker, she now lives on the West Coast with her husband and their Caribbean Potcake dog, Pippa.
Joelle Avelino is an Angolan and Congolese illustrator. She has illustrated several titles including Hey You!, a 2022 British Book Awards winner. Her animation project with the Malala Fund was featured as one of Design Week’s favorite International Women’s Day projects of 2020.
What is this book about?
Inspired by her own foremothers’ legacies and the friendships formed throughout her life, Rozella Kennedy centers and celebrates the stories of 100 Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women—both famous and little-known—who changed the course of US history.
In Our Brave Foremothers, discover an intergenerational, intercultural bouquet of Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women lifted into the significance that they deserve.
From Etel Adnan to Mary Jones, Thelma Garcia Buchholdt to Pura Belpré to Zitkála-Šá, here are 100 women of color who left a lasting mark on United States history. Including both famous and little-known names, the thoughtful profiles and detailed portraits of these women herald their achievements and passions.
Following each entry is a prompt that asks you to connect your life to theirs, an inspiring way to understand their influence and the power of their stories. To consider on a deeper level the devotedness of Clara Brown, the fearlessness of Jovita Idár, the guts of Grace Lee Boggs, or the selflessness of Martha Louise Morrow Foxx. And to be as brave as we each can be—and then beyond that.