My Sisters' Voices Teenage Girls of Color Speak Out [Paperback]

In the tradition of the bestsellingOphelia Speaks, a collection of provocative essays by teenage girls of color

My Sisters' Voicesis a passionate and poignant collection of writings from teenage girls of African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American, and biracial backgrounds. With candor and grace, they speak out on topics that are relevant not only to themselves and their peers but to anyone who is raising, teaching, or nurturing young women of color.

As adolescents, women, and minorities, these young authors represent a demographic that has had no voice of its own, a group often spoken for but rarely given the opportunity to be heard. Now these young women have a chance to stand up and be counted, to present their own unique perspectives in fresh and astonishing ways. Here you'll find a Native American girl writing about the bumps in her relationship with her best friend, who's white; a Korean American girl who wishes she could help her mother understand that it's okay to socialize with boys as well as girls; and a biracial girl who feels she must be the designated spokesperson for blacks when she's around whites, for whites when she's around blacks, and for biracial people around everyone. These personal and inspiring stories about family, friendship, sex, love, poverty, loss, and oppression makeMy Sisters' Voicesessential reading for young women of all backgrounds.

Reading and Understanding This Anthology

1. In the Introduction, Jacob explains the thoughts, experiences, and motivations that led her to create My Sisters' Voices. Everywhere I looked, she writes, I began to see the need for such a book (page xvi). Describe the need she is referring to. What were Jacob's personal and universal reasons for producing this book? Which reasons do you identify withand why?

2. Later in the Introduction, Jacob reflects on her friend named Rosa. Who is Rosa? Describe her, explaining where, when, and ls'