{"id":20064,"date":"2026-07-16T15:42:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=20064"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:45:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:45:40","slug":"never-tell-a-black-girl-how-to-black-girl-essays-by-amena-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/never-tell-a-black-girl-how-to-black-girl-essays-by-amena-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl: Essays by Amena Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

c.2026, Tiny Rep Books\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>
\n$30.00\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>
\n320 pages<\/em><\/p>\n

By Terri Schlichenmeyer<\/em>
\nThe Truth Contributor<\/em><\/p>\n

Some things can really make you cross.<\/p>\n

People telling you your business, for instance. People asking questions they have no reason to know. Folks who criticize your hair or clothes or life. These things would set anyone off; they\u2019d be the last straw for anybody. As in the new book, Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl<\/em> by Amena Brown,<\/strong> some folks just cross the line.<\/p>\n

In a way, it\u2019s a matter of grammar.<\/p>\n

Depending on how you say it, \u201cBlack Girl is a noun and a verb,\u201d says Brown. A Black Girl can be<\/em> a Black Girl\u2026 and she can Black Girl. Brown herself has done it \u201cin six countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up in North Carolina, she Black Girled her hair her entire life. Her grandma made her sit for box braids when she was small, telling Brown that she was \u201ctenderheaded.\u201d Later, Brown had relaxed hair, until she \u201cwent broke\u201d and couldn\u2019t afford the process anymore. That was when she got acquainted with her natural hair \u2013 although she returned to box braids at least once, and loved them all over again.<\/p>\n

As the child of a strict Pentecostal mother, Brown was a \u201clate bloomer.\u201d She didn\u2019t drink alcohol until she was in her twenties. She was chaste when dating and she was a better church girl than a party girl. After she left the church, she began experimenting with wine first, then cocktails. She learned to cook, reasoning that the path to finding love started in a kitchen, one that happened to be her grandmother\u2019s. And yes, love did eventually come in the form of a red-headed white man who was her friend before he became her boy<\/em>friend before he became her mother-sanctioned, grandma-approved husband.<\/p>\n

Overall, says Brown, there is no right method to do this.
\n\u201cThere are so many ways to Black Girl, which means the way you Black Girl is beautiful, and the way I Black Girl is beautiful too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking for a collection of addictive, can\u2019t-read-just-one essays that\u2019ll make you laugh but that also feel like author Amena Brown is peeking at your life?\u00a0 Want a book that speaks to every corner of your existence?<\/p>\n

Yeah, then you want Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl<\/em>. You know how it is when you spot something so profound, so right,<\/em> that you just have to call your friends and read it out loud to them? That\u2019s what you\u2019ll find here: truth told with humor that\u2019s also oozing with warmth. Add honesty that\u2019s smart and bold and practically begging for a \u201cHeck, YES!\u201d and you\u2019ve got your new favorite book.<\/p>\n

The essays here are short enough to read in a few minutes, but compelling enough to make you want more, so give yourself room. This is a book for twenty- and thirty-somethings, but also for their mothers and grandmas who can handle respectful irreverence and surefooted playfulness. Can men enjoy Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl<\/em>?\u00a0 Sure, but it\u2019s more for women, cross your heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

c.2026, Tiny Rep Books\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 $30.00\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 320 pages By Terri Schlichenmeyer The Truth Contributor Some things can really make you cross. People telling you your business, for instance. People asking questions they have no reason to know. Folks who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[20],"class_list":["post-20064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book_review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20064"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20067,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20064\/revisions\/20067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20064"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=20064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}