America, Goddam

Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice

By: Treva B. Lindsey

Narrated by: Treva B. Lindsey

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

A powerful account of violence against Black women and girls in the United States and their fight for liberation.

America, Goddam explores the combined force of anti-Blackness, misogyny, patriarchy, and capitalism in the lives of Black women and girls in the United States today. Through personal accounts and hard-hitting analysis, Black feminist historian Treva B. Lindsey starkly assesses the forms and legacies of violence against Black women and girls, as well as their demands for justice for themselves and their communities. America, Goddam powerfully demonstrates that the struggle for justice begins with reckoning with the pervasiveness of violence against Black women and girls in the United States.

Combining history, theory, and memoir, America, Goddam renders visible the gender dynamics of anti-Black violence. Black women and girls occupy a unique status of vulnerability to harm and death, while the circumstances and traumas of this violence go underreported and understudied. Lindsey also shows that the sanctity of life and liberty for Black men has been a galvanizing rallying cry within Black freedom movements. But Black women—who have been both victims of anti-Black violence as well as frontline participants in it, and quite often architects of these freedom movements—are rarely the focus. Black women have led movements demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Toyin Salau, Riah Milton, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, and countless other Black women and girls whose lives have been curtailed by numerous forms of violence. Across generations and centuries, their refusal to remain silent about violence against them led many to envisioning and building toward Black liberation through organizing and radical politics. Echoing the energy of Nina Simone's searing protest song that inspired the title, America, Goddam is a call to action in our collective journey toward just futures.

©2022 Treva B. Lindsey (P)2022 Recorded Books

An in depth look at the Black Woman experience in America

Thank you, Treva, for writing this and sharing your personal experiences with us as well. I can’t imagine the toll it took on you to write this, as it was extremely wearing for me as I listened. I had to take frequent breaks because the stories are heavy, and it is a reminder of how quickly these stories move or are non existent in the news cycles. A must read to gain a clear understanding of the impacts of these systems on Black women and our mental, emotional, physical health and socioeconomic status.

A Masterpiece

I cried as I listened to story after story. The author’s combination of scholarly research, attention to the stories of black women, and her own vulnerable self disclosure was mesmerizing and powerful. I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone for any reason. Please read. Please listen.

Fantastic Read!!

This book is a MUST read for all those who are dedicated to dismantling the death-dealing systems which America is. Thank you Treva…THANK YOU!