Meeting at the Table: African-American Women Write On Race, Culture and Community

Editors Tina McElroy Ansa and Wanda S. Lloyd created this anthology in the aftermath of the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many other African Americans, plus the worldwide protests that followed. According to the book’s Amazon description, Ansa and Lloyd developed this project to bring voices of African-American women together to honestly and transparently share how race and culture have affected them in ways related to their families, their careers and their communities.

Nicole Childers, whose story “Bringing my Whole Self” is featured in the book, brought the project to Culturs’ attention. Childers is an Executive Producer at American Public Media for “Marketplace Morning Report,” producing six broadcasts daily. The show reaches more than 10.8 million listeners. She’s no stranger to globally focused content as she conceived and launched a daily global business show co-produced by “Marketplace” and the BBC World Service that is produced live from the BBC Headquarters in London. She also appears regularly as a guest on the BBC show “Business Matters,” which reaches millions of listeners around the globe.

Needless to say, she caught our attention. But when we read her entry in the book, she captured our hearts. The first paragraph of her story says it all: “I have lived a nomadic life, traveling and living within the various communities and identities I embrace: Black, Latinx, woman, queer, bisexual and former foster kid. My membership in these communities is fluid and malleable, each one providing a feeling of home and illuminating the different parts of who I am.”

Nicole Childers

She continues, “When I am asked how I identify, “Black” is always my first response because it’s unquestionably my favorite part of who I am and the focal point of how I have been received by all the spaces I’ve occupied. I remember a time before I was in foster care, and a time before I identified as bisexual, and then queer. I remember a time before I culturally identified as Latinx. But, I do not remember a time I wasn’t Black.”

She describes growing up with little visual attributes that mirrored her red-haired mother. How she experienced abuse and neglect in her mother’s home and by her mother’s boyfriend, and how she stood up for herself in that situation, which led to being put in foster care. Childers walks us through the perils and joy of embracing and navigating multiple identities, and true acceptance of ourselves. In the end, she describes the feeling of home, and how authenticity and finding one’s voice can set you free.

Available at Amazon.com, $9.99