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It’s Okay to Take Off Your ‘Strong Black Woman’ Mask
An interview with the author of ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women’
We all know about the myth of the super-powered Black superwoman. It’s been ingrained in our consciousness for generations. But is it healthy? Inger Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, says the strong Black woman mask we wear is an illusion that prevents us from being “our authentic and abundant selves.”
Burnett-Zeigler’s new book, Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women, takes a hard look at the mask and how to identify it and offers suggestions on why and how to take it off. It’s a personal work equally peppered with family stories and psychological research.
ZORA spoke with Burnett-Zeigler to learn more.
ZORA: Talk about being still.
Inger Burnett-Zeigler: You know, when I think about stillness, it might be a couple of minutes at the top [or] the end of your day. It doesn’t have to be in a period of extreme distress. I think about it as a time when you are not stuck in just doing busy-ness, but you have the opportunity to slow down. I acknowledge that that’s…
