Dr. A-L Tells: What to Read & Watch- I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America

Welcome to my blog series Dr. A-L Tells: What to Read & Watch, where I get to share with you some of my favourite finds from books, films, & other gems that resonated with me so deeply I just had to write about them! In each post, I’ll keep it short & sweet with a 500-word-ish review of something I’ve recently read or watched, often centring Black people, identity, & diverse experiences around the globe.

This series mixes my personal reflections, feelings, & academic insights to offer a fresh take on stories that capture the richness & complexity of Black voices worldwide. I’m here to explore the layers of culture, history, & identity while unpacking how these narratives hit home for me on both intellectual & emotional levels. So, whether you’re in the mood for a thoughtful analysis or just a solid recommendation, I hope each post brings a quick but meaningful spark to your day! ✨

In this post, I dive into the book I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America By Brian Lanker (1989).

---

It began with overhearing someone’s joy. A visitor in the library marvelled at the book in their hands. They left it behind on a table, & it called to me. I picked it up & could not put it down. It quickly became my sacred companion. Morning & evening, without fail, I read a few pages. It nestled into my routine, much like daily scripture. A quiet ritual of remembrance & reverence.

I Dream a World is not just a book. It is an offering. Seventy-five Black women fill its pages, women who shaped America with their brilliance, courage & unwavering grace. From artists to activists, educators to elders, their stories speak across generations & the Atlantic.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer & author Brian Lanker, a white man, acknowledges his positionality from the first page. In his candid preface, he shares the emotional weight of undertaking such a project & his desire to honour each subject with integrity. His lens does not flatten their complexity; it magnifies it. Each woman is given a two-page spread: name, birth details, a brief biography, words from her interview, & a portrait in black & white that feels alive with colour. The light caresses skin tones, reveals every hair texture, every crease of laughter or defiance. The diversity within Blackness is tenderly celebrated. These portraits stop you mid-page. You see grace, fire, humour, sorrow, dignity & strength intertwined.

Barbara Summers helped shape the written features & her editorial care is evident. The foreword, penned by the legendary Maya Angelou, is itself a masterpiece. Her words moved me to tears:

“The heartbreaking tenderness of Black women & their majestic strength speak of the heroic survival of a people who knew the lash firsthand & for whom protection was a phantom known of but seldom experienced”.

Many of these women are now ancestors. Some, like Septima Poinsette Clark on the cover, had already transitioned by 1989 when this book was first published. Born between the late 1800s & the 1940s, they lived through the aftershocks of slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights era, & the reshaping of the Black American identity. My own grandparents were born during this span. Only one remains.

A museum guide once told me, not everyone becomes an ancestor- only those who leave something meaningful behind. These women certainly did.

.Reading their words was like sitting by the fireside, warmed by the wisdom of grandmothers & great-aunts. Stories poured out like honey & milk. Some made me weep slowly. Others stirred laughter from deep within.

Gloria Dean Randle Scott shares my birthday & is also an academic. She wrote:

“To get through, you have to have a base. I see on whose shoulders we stand. Some of us only got through because they didn’t. And that’s a critical responsibility for the generation you’re in, to help provide the shoulders, the direction, & the support for those generations who come behind.”

Queen Mother Audley Moore, bold & unflinching, reminded us of the long overdue reparations we are owed. Faye Wattleton, pictured with her daughter, offered a vision of self-determination. Ruby Middleton Forsythe stood with young children & spoke her truth unapologetically, & Bertha Knox Gilkey laid it bare:

“The one thing I learned real quick, once I took off my rebel clothes, was that there is big money in poor folks. There’s millions of people that benefit. They eat because I’m poor. They never want to eliminate poverty. They just want to control it. The day they eliminate poverty, they go out of business.”

To hear from Rosa Parks, Betty Shabazz, Coretta Scott King, & Myrlie Evers in their own words was a gift. Not just icons, but women, flesh & spirit.

This book came to me at the right moment. It humbled me. It affirmed me. It blessed me.

They dreamed a world. & in doing so, they shaped mine.

I have since ordered my own copy to await me at home, ready to be savoured again & again, its pages a living prayer for all who dream, do, write & remember.

Buy I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America here now & please share your thoughts!