In a time of book bannings, global division, and bouts of cultural erasure, Unerased | Black Women Speak is offering a counterapproach with the launch of the inaugural Power Read 25 campaign.
Announced July 22, the reading initiative –– made possible by the Park Foundation and media partner, The Washington Informer –– strives to empower minds with narratives of the past, spanning more than two centuries of American history across 25 biographies.
More than a project, the yearlong effort reflects one simple yet transformative notion: the nation’s truths go untold when Black women are left out of the mix.
“Black women have always been authors of this country’s history — not only through the books they’ve written, but through the lives they’ve lived,” said Gwen McKinney, founder of Unerased | Black Women Speak. “Reading biographies is a powerful way to claim the voices, vision, courage, and imagination that have shaped this nation.”
When the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released its “Big Read 250” initiative earlier this year, in honor of the nation’s semiquincentennial, Black women authors fell short in a list sporting 24 books and millions of dollars in grants.
Rather than protest, Unerased BWS forged their own path to paint the full portrait of American life, featuring a couple dozen freedom fighters, educators, creatives, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who were behind it.
“The best response for us was to ‘unerase’ the exclusion,” McKinney continued. “We weren’t interested in protesting a list as much as creating one of our own.”
Readers will dive into the testaments of enslaved resistance, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, civil rights, the Black Power movement, and present-day leadership. Featured across the 25 biographies are celebrated protagonists like Harriet Tubman and Zora Neale Hurston, plus other Power Read titles spotlighting the change agents whose stories remain largely untold to the public.
Additional companion titles are designed to boost literacy among young readers.
“Through Power Read 25, Unerased wants to know what conversations are sparked by exploring the lives of these extraordinary Black women,” Power Read 25 Project Director Tracy Chiles McGhee told The Informer. “What do these biographies teach us about the past so that we can imagine and manifest a brighter future?”
In boosting what she calls “activation partners,” Chiles McGhee emphasized a broader mission to expand the yearlong initiative across families, libraries, classrooms, literary groups, book clubs and more.
“Picture a literary salon in the neighborhood library with echoes of the past yet grounded in the present. A teacher reads a passage about Fannie Lou Hamer. A college student hears her story for the first time. An elder remembers living those times,” she continued. “A poet is inspired to jot down a poem about Hamer’s fiery spirit, and the book’s author shares her most exciting discovery while researching in the archives. By the end of the gathering, the group is sharing family stories, asking hard questions, and planning where they will meet again.”
For the full Power Read 25 list and other details, participants can visit the main page and dive headfirst into a version of America that celebrates each chapter of its story.
In the meantime, the project team encourages people to check out the free Power Read 25 Activation Toolkit and become a champion of the legacies that made 250 years of this nation possible.
“As the publisher of The Washington Informer—a newspaper founded by my father and proudly led today by a Black woman—I understand the power of stories to preserve our history, shape our future, and inspire change,” said Denise Rolark Barnes, who has served as publisher of the 61-year-old organization for more than three decades. “We hope this list encourages readers of all ages to discover these extraordinary works and to celebrate the enduring impact of Black women on literature and our collective story.”
