
The Cabin Kids: Black Children, Beautiful Voices, and the Joy We Kept Singing Into the World
Black history holds more than what was done to us. It holds everything we created, loved, celebrated, and shared with the world.
Watching old footage of Black children singing warms my heart. Especially when you know the hist [...]

Edward Crawford Jr. Tried to Protect Children in Ferguson. We Should Remember His Story.
Remembering Edward Crawford Jr., Darren Seals, and the Ferguson protesters whose lives and deaths deserve more than silence.
There is a photograph from the Ferguson protests that many people remember, even if they do not reme [...]

Janet Jackson’s Control: The 1986 Album That Taught Young Women to Expect Respect
Before we had today's language for boundaries, emotional labor, and relationship expectations, Janet Jackson was singing about them.
In 1986, Janet Jackson released Control, an album that gave young women something worth list [...]
Why Are Women Expected to Compromise Their Safety?
Mistreatment can teach us the wrong lessons. It can teach women to question our instincts, ignore our discomfort, and mistake surrendering our boundaries for kindness, fairness, or compassion.
For example, a woman may say, "I [...]
I Don’t Have to Explain the Boundaries That Keep Me Safe
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
You’ve explained enough.
Why you stayed. Why you left.Why you didn’t speak sooner. Why you did.Why you flinched. Why you disappeared. Why you blocked them.
Now they wa [...]
Are You Still Protecting People Who Never Protected You? 5 Powerful Questions to Break the Cycle
These affirmations are written with tenderness, truth, and a deep honoring of those who carry the ache of being raised by parents who did not do their best—not because they couldn’t, but because they wouldn’t. These are for the [...]

Grief Comes Back Again and Again. So Can Love.
How remembrance, music, and personal tributes can help us live with loss
There is something especially beautiful about the hip-hop classic They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) by Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Released in 1992, the [...]
Inspired by Gil Scott-Heron: 10 Affirmations on Deserving Respect for Survivors
Gil Scott-Heron: A Man Who Understood That Respect Begins With Recognizing Humanity
Gil Scott-Heron (1949–2011) was an American poet, musician, author, and social commentator who understood that respect was about far more than [...]

Behind the Wall by Tracy Chapman: When a Woman’s Cries for Help Are Heard, but Help Never Comes
Some songs stay with us because they are beautiful. Others stay with us because they tell a truth that society has spent generations trying not to hear.
In 1988, Tracy Chapman released a song called “Behind the Wall” on her s [...]

Before “I Am Woman” Became an Anthem, Women Were Fighting to Be Heard: The Story Behind Helen Reddy’s Song
The history behind Helen Reddy's 1972 anthem, the rights women were fighting for, and what her story can teach Survivors about independence, solidarity, and finding their voices.
In 1972, Australian singer Helen Reddy release [...]
Who Did You Have to Become to Survive? A Gentle Introduction to Jungian Self-Reflection for Survivors
Exploring the parts of ourselves we learned to hide, the roles we learned to play, and the freedom to discover who we are today.
Sometimes we become so accustomed to being a certain kind of person that we forget we had other [...]
🎃 Black Sitcom Halloween Episodes: The Ultimate Watchlist for a Cozy Night In or a Watch Party With Friends
From Martin and Living Single to Girlfriends, Family Matters, Abbott Elementary, and more.
There is something special about revisiting the television shows that made us laugh growing up. The familiar theme songs, the characte [...]

Because They Refused Jim Crow, We Walk Through Different Doors
October 7, 1955: Ella Fitzgerald Arrested After Performing Before an Integrated Audience in Houston
We live inside freedoms that somebody else had to be brave enough to imagine. I am grateful for the people who challenged Jim C [...]

10 Surprising Lessons for Survivors from Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive
When most of us hear Gloria Gaynor sing “I Will Survive,” we hear certainty.
We hear a woman who has figured something out. She sounds like she knows where the door is, knows she deserves better and knows she can live without [...]

10 Lessons from The Forever Tree for Black Women, Girls, and Survivors Who Have Learned to Play Small
There is something quietly radical about The Forever Tree.
Tawny Bennett, played by Olivia Washington, is a young Black woman living during the Harlem Renaissance. She is intelligent, knowledgeable and working as an antiquari [...]
10 Lessons for Survivors from Sandy “Pepa” Denton’s Let’s Talk About Pep
Sandy “Pepa” Denton is known to millions as one of the women who helped change hip-hop. But Let’s Talk About Pep tells another story underneath the records, performances, fame, laughter, relationships and celebrity encounters. D [...]

Tammi Terrell’s Story Reminds Us That Survival Is More Than Staying Alive
When people speak about Tammi Terrell, they often begin with how young she was when she died.
Twenty-four.
They talk about the brain tumor. The interrupted career. The songs she never got to record. The future that was cut sho [...]

7 Reasons Survivors May Want to Read Taraji P. Henson’s Around the Way Girl
Sometimes the books that stay with Survivors aren't the ones written specifically about surviving.
Sometimes they are simply somebody telling the truth about her life.
Taraji P. Henson's memoir, Around the Way Girl, was pu [...]

Angie Stone, Roberta Flack & Gwen McCrae: The Power of Their Musical Legacy
Angie Stone’s Music Pulled Us Through—And Now, She’s Gone.
Angie Stone has passed, and somehow, it still doesn’t feel real.
During one of my lowest valleys, her music became my guide, my comfort, my reassurance that I [...]

The Wishing Tree With Alfre Woodard: A Beautiful Movie About Finding Your Way Home + Full Movie
Sometimes you want a movie that doesn't demand everything from you.
Something you can put on while folding clothes, answering emails, working on a project, cooking dinner, or finally dealing with that pile of papers that has [...]
AFFIRMATIONS AND SELF LOVE
HEALING JOURNEY
BLACK TEENAGE GIRLS HAVE AMAZING STORIES 📺
Before Moesha was writing in her journal, other Black teenage girls had been growing up on our television screens, because Black girls have amazing st [...]
Reclaim Your Confidence: 7 Quick Tips (audio)
Sometimes we lose our confidence in ourselves and others. This podcast episode will give you 7 tips to help you recover quickly. R [...]
I Will Not Shrink Myself So They Can Stay Comfortable in Their Denial
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
They ask you to soften your voice.To stop being “so angry.”To say it “more kindly.”To “ge [...]
Reverend MLK Jr. Reminds Us That Comparisons Are Not the Survivor’s Friend: 10 Affirmations
Comparisons Are Not the Survivor's Friend
There's a quiet voice that shows up sometimes, usually when you're already tired. It says: why haven't I he [...]
What I Survived Speaks Louder Than What They Say
✨ Affirmation ✨
What they say is fleeting—rumors, whispers, labels.But what I survived is eternal—it beats like a drum in my spirit.My scars sing lou [...]
🌿 Dear Woman Who is Letting Herself Rest Without Earning It
The way you pause—half ready to sit down, half ready to keep moving,still listening for some unseen judge to tell you it’s okay to stop.
The guilt th [...]
CONFIDENCE/POWER/RESILIENCE
Strategies for Dealing with Stress
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I’m Allowed to Move On Without Making It Make Sense to Anyone Else
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
Some people won’t understand why you left.Why you stopped calling.Why you unfollowed.Why [...]
HEALTHING JOURNEY
🌺 Survivor Affirmations Post: “I Am No Longer Waiting for Them to See Me”
A declaration for the Survivor who has outgrown invisibility.
There was a time I whispered, hoping someone would hear.A time I stood still, [...]
Survivor Affirmations: I Will Find a Way or Create a Way
Sometimes the way seems impossible until you figure out that you came here to show the world new ways.
Affirmations: I Will Find a Way or C [...]
10 Lessons Women Can Take From Star Jones, Al Reynolds, and Everybody Who Had Something to Say
There was a time when Star Jones and Al Reynolds seemed to be everywhere.
The proposal came at the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. Then came the enormous w [...]
I Didn’t Come Here to Absorb the Mess of People Who Refuse to Heal
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
There’s a special kind of pain that hits when the world punishes a victim for speaking up [...]
You’re Not Behind—You’re Rebuilding
Let’s go ahead and cancel a lie today:“I should be further along by now.”Where? According to whom? On whose timeline?
If you’ve survived harm, betray [...]
She Traveled Deep Within: A Spiritual Portrait of Alice Coltrane
✍🏽 For SurvivorAffirmations.com
There are people whose healing path takes them outward—
into movements, microphones, and moments of bold declarati [...]
She Is AMAZING
Why Harriet Tubman Gave the Gift the Freedom on Christmas Eve
Harriet Tubman helped her brothers escape at Christmas. Their master intended to sell them after Christmas but was delayed by the holi [...]
Survivor Spotlight: Lisa Hansen
CEO of Power Over Predators Lisa Hansen [...]
Survivor Affirmations Inspired by The Joy Luck Club (with audio book)
There’s something sacred about The Joy Luck Club.Not just the story—but the witnessing. The layering. The quiet truths that refuse to stay buried.
Le [...]
Survivor Affirmations: I Am Allowed to Be More than My Worst Decision
Maybe we don't have more talented female singers in mainstream markets these days because we never learned how to treat them?
There was something [...]
Behind the Wall by Tracy Chapman: When a Woman’s Cries for Help Are Heard, but Help Never Comes
Some songs stay with us because they are beautiful. Others stay with us because they tell a truth that society has spent generations trying not to hea [...]
Affirmations for Black Women on a Personal Journey with Our Hair Inspired by ShesASolarBeing
Affirmations for Black Women on a Personal Journey with Our Hair
From the roots to the rhythm, this is sacred.
🌿 I honor the truth that my hair is n [...]
ART HEALS
Vivica A. Fox: A master class in showing up and showing out from her days on Soul Train
Soul Train dancers were not “just dancers.”
They were artists.
People sometimes talk about Soul Train like it was simply a place to party.
But look [...]
You Remember the Beat. But Do You Remember What Chubb Rock Was Saying?
I have been thinking about Chubb Rock’s “Treat ’Em Right”.
Maybe it is because I keep hearing people talk about hip-hop as though an entire generat [...]
The Lie of “Not Enough Trained People”: What Martin, Motown, and Black Representation Already Proved
There is an old lie that keeps getting dressed up as wisdom.
It says Black communities do not get full representation because there are not enough “t [...]
There Are No Children Here: When Survival Makes a Child Grow Up Too Soon
In 1993, Oprah Winfrey starred in a television movie called There Are No Children Here. She played LaJoe Rivers, a Black mother raising her children i [...]
JOURNALING/WRITING IN A HEALTHIER WORLD
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