‘The Black Superwoman & Mental Health: Power & Pain’ anthology tackles sensitive subject

Welcome to the Inside Black Iowa Podcast. I’m Dana James, your host and the founder and publisher of Black Iowa News. We’re discussing “The Black Superwoman and Mental Health, Power and Pain,” an anthology edited by Bernice Berry and Janette Taylor, both Ph.Ds, which is published by Peter Lang. The anthology explores the trope of the Black Superwoman, which emerged during slavery and continues to exist today. The book illuminates the mental health issues of Black women from a broad perspective, says its co-editor. 

“We want to explore why Black women must fight to retain a sense of wholeness,” said co-editor Berry. 

Today’s episode includes Berry, a professor of journalism and African American Studies at the University of Iowa, and guests Katrina Harden Williams, a doctoral candidate at Drake University, and Georgene Bess Montgomery, Ph.D., a professor at Clark Atlanta University. The book is co-edited by Berry and Taylor, an associate professor emerita in African American Studies, Gender Women’s Sexuality Studies, and an RN at the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa. 

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