Eleanor Traylor: Since then, we became communicants like those described in “the Johnson Girls” in Gorilla. And our talk, like those girls, was self-fashioning talk....
There is brilliance and bravery written here, among the cultures of masculinity and “men run it.” There is a clear message here for the youthful...
Dr. Gloria I. Joseph: Toni Cade Bambara’s talents and intellect were indeed, outstanding. Her range of knowledge was extensive as was repeatedly demonstrated during conversations...
Laura Whitehorn: Rubbish, really, and you showed me so later, narrating the tale of similar idiocies from liberals visiting a Black southern community, romanticizing what...
Pearl Cleage: I remember us welcoming our own daughters into our undeniably bohemian lives and wanting them to grow up strong and free. We wanted...
Michael Simmons: What struck me about Toni during this time was that she was continually engaged in forming organizations that allowed African American artists to...
Donald P. Stone: In the mid-seventies, Toni moved South to Atlanta, which at that time had a very active political and cultural community. Some of...
They say you had the eye; they say you saw into people. They say you came before as shaman or bruja and returned as priestess; they say...
Denise M. Brown: Her life a stunning example of her belief that “a writer, like any other cultural worker, like any other member of the...
Amadee Braxton: Toni could couch the most subversive or controversial notion into a most matter-of-fact sentence. Like when she told me that “Tragedy” was an...
Wesley Brown: A woman asked the honorees why black writers weren’t giving their readers more positive stories about black life. Toni responded immediately, saying, “I’ve...
Bia Vieira: When Toni comes into my life, when she invites me to understand my story as a way to find strength and value within...
Sande Smith: To be in the company of your fierce and loving inquiry. Your influence didn’t stop there, though. When I was planning how to...
We are explicitly clear that our commitment to honoring Toni Cade Bambara is just what we need now and every other heinous time when Black...
NaOme Richardson: Consequently TCB opened the door of learning how to express oneself through words and images for several of the women who became Image...
Tina Morton: So fast-forward 20 years later. I quit my job as an x-ray tech, went to graduate school for film, and am now an...
Nikki Harmon: When all my dreams were up for grabs, when youth and energy and the righteousness of self-expression defined my existence. When art...
Nadine Patterson: Her knowledge was all-encompassing. And then she would break it down. To paraphrase her: “Everyone in Western culture dreams in five parts. There...