A Renaissance of Our Own

A deeply personal, thoroughly researched and unflinching examination of feminism through the lens of race calling for a new understanding of our relationships with ourselves and one another — from a leading public academic, writer, lecturer, and activist.

After a photograph of her standing with her white friend at the 2017 Women's March went viral, then twenty-seven-year old Rachel Cargle began to wonder, What is her place in the feminist movement? Is feminist solidarity even a possibility? She started documenting her investigation into these questions and many others via Instagram, which grew into a robust community of nearly two million members. Now, in A Renaissance of Our Own, Cargle shares her journey, depicting the framework for true allyship that she discovered along the way.

According to Cargle, true freedom from the structures that reinforce white supremacy comes through a three-art process- knowledge + empathy + action. A Renaissance of Our Own describes Cargle's journey towards her own liberation from the constructs that confine and limit not just Black women, but all people.

Both a memoir and a manifesto, this book offers a way for all readers to reimagine the world and their place in it. Cargle presents a map toward a freer, more equal world — one that is not based on hierarchy or othering, but on seeing one another for who we really are.