Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag: Twenty-First Century Acts of Self-Definition

Hashtag or trademark, personal or collective expression, #BlackGirlMagic is an articulation of the resolve of Black women and girls to triumph in the face of structural oppressions. The online life of #BlackGirlMagic insists on the visibility of Black women and girls as aspirational figures. But while the notion of Black girl magic spreads in cyberspace, the question remains: how is Black girl magic experienced offline?

The essays in this volume move us beyond social media. They offer critical analyses and representations of the multiplicities of Black femmes’, girls’, and women’s lived experiences. Together the chapters demonstrate how Black girl magic is embodied by four elements enacted both on- and offline: building community, challenging dehumanizing representations, increasing visibility, and offering restorative justice for violence.

Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag shows how Black girls and women foster community, counter invisibility, engage in restorative acts, and create spaces for freedom. Intersectional and interdisciplinary, the contributions in this volume bridge generations and collectively push the boundaries of Black feminist thought.

Julia S. Jordan-Zachery is a professor and chair in the Africana Studies Department at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on African American women and public policy. She is also the author of the award-winning book Black Women, Cultural Images, and Social Policy and Shadow Bodies: Black Women, Ideology, Representation, and Politics. Jordan-Zachery currently serves as the president of the Association for Ethnic Studies.

Duchess Harris is a professor of American studies at Macalester College. She is a scholar of contemporary African American history and political theory. Her academic books include Racially Writing the Republic: Racists, Race Rebels, and Transformations of American Identity and Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump. She is the curator of the Duchess Harris Collection, which has more than sixty books written for third through twelfth graders.