A Salute to the Brave Women in This Bridge Called Woman  

A Salute to the Brave Women in 

This Bridge Called Woman: A Cross-Cultural Anthology – Uganda & USA 

When I was approached to participate in an unusual cross-cultural anthology that is This Bridge Called Woman, I was beyond excited. As a genealogist, it’s been my dream to connect to my African roots, but the slave trade makes it very difficult to find much information about my enslaved family prior to 1870. Like the Ugandan FEMRITE and American Women’s Wisdom Art organizations, who concocted this revolutionary and unconventional book, “difficult” does not mean impossible. I have published eight family history-oriented books since 2017, and there are more to come. And This Bridge Called Woman isn’t finished either.

I was inspired to submit a photograph of my 16-inch diameter ceramic platter called “Sisterz!” to celebrate the collaboration of Ugandan and American women. It’s part of my “Sisterz of the World” art series, comprised of ceramics and African quilts.

“Sisterz” ceramic platter and “Sisterz of the World” art quilt by Kathy “Kanika” Marshall

Reading This Bridge Called Woman opened my eyes to stories I had never heard before. Visceral, impactful, emotional, uplifting, TRUE. What this book stands for is very important.

In America, and elsewhere, there is a dangerous backsliding, a slow harkening to “the good ol’ days” when women stayed home and Blacks cowered behind Jim Crow laws, when White men were large and in charge. In many parts of Africa, it was Black men calling all the shots. Women were kept in their place, quiet, always working, pretty but ignorant. There was a silencing of their voices. 

Books about women, Black folk, Native Americans, and other nonwhite groups are being banned in certain school districts across America. Today. Any text that presents a more inclusive view of America is now suspect, because it may alter the rosy picture of our imperfect founding fathers. So instead of simply recognizing they lived in another time and place when enslavement was the norm, and that circumstances and laws can change with time, many folks want to preserve that idyllic version of their truth. They don’t want their children to be ashamed of their ancestors. But what about the women—half of the US population—who generally aren’t represented in history books at all (except for maybe the suffragettes and Dolly Madison saving the portrait of George Washington in 1814)? What about the “other” groups who literally built American buildings, farmed the land for the 1% to become rich? Don’t their kids deserve to know about their ancestry TOO? 

That’s why my goal as an author is to publish books like This Bridge Called Woman—books that call attention to the remarkable contributions women and non-whites have made to humanity. We must keep this inclusive movement going. We cannot let ourselves slip back into second-class citizenship!

Double-sided jacket and African cloth dolls by Gloria Grandy.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the cultural experiences of women in Uganda and America. The stories are true, raw, and life affirming. They are the future of women. 

Read This Bridge Called Woman: A Cross-Cultural Anthology – Uganda & USA