In my decades of research in the archival correspondence of Black feminist writers I have found the words that serve as the title of this letter again and again: “stay strong.” These words appear as a form of sisterly punctuation across a range of events. Health episodes, break-ups, deaths in the family and community, horrible headlines, and, yes, election results and their aftermath. The alliteration of “stay strong” circulating among Black women writers—those intentional wordsmiths—in no way buys into the unhealthy stereotype of Black women, those whose labor and presence is a deciding factor in so many movements, industries, and elections, as a form superhuman strength that can take infinite abuse while continuing to provide infinite care. In fact, it is the quite the opposite. The words “stay strong” between sisters acknowledge vulnerability and grief, an intimacy of witness that reminds us that we do not have to pretend to be okay when we are not.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs in Southern Cultures. “stay strong”
