Tamara Winfrey Harris

This thought provoking book “challenges stereotypical portrayals of black women and highlights the need for nuanced, complex characters” (USA Today).

When African women arrived on American shores, the three-headed hydra—servile Mammy, angry Sapphire, and lascivious Jezebel—followed close behind. These stereotypes persist to this day through newspaper headlines, Sunday sermons, social media memes, cable punditry, government policies, big screen portrayals, and hit song lyrics. Author Tamara Winfrey Harris reveals that while emancipation may have happened more than 150 years ago, America still won’t let a sister be free from this coven of caricatures.

The second edition of this bestseller features interviews with diverse Black women about marriage, motherhood, health, sexuality, beauty, and more. Alongside these authentic experiences and fresh voices, Winfrey Harris explores the evolution of stereotypes of Black women, with new real-life examples, such as the rise of blackfishing and digital blackface (which help white women rise to fame) and the media’s continued fascination with Black women’s sexuality (as with Cardi B or Megan Thee Stallion).

Extending her examination of stereotypes into the political arena, Winfrey Harris reveals how these persistent conceptions challenge Black women’s leadership and achievements in activism, community organizing, and politics. She offers insights from interviews with activists and civic leaders and interrogates media coverage and perceptions of Stacey Abrams, Kamala Harris, and others.

Provocative and passionate, The Sisters Are Alright exposes anti-Black woman propaganda and shows how real Black women are pushing back against racist, distorted cartoon versions of themselves, countering warped prejudices with the straight-up truth about being a Black woman in America.