Acknowledgements

This book would not have come to be without a lot of peoples’ help and support. Thank you, Janelle Silva for planting the idea of a book into my head; I did not know I had another one in me but apparently you did. Thank you Denise Hattwig for sowing the Pressbooks seed in me and making me think I was capable of this project, long before I knew I was. Mary Schibig, thank you so much for troubleshooting my many technical issues as I got deeper and deeper into the book and all of the hands-on work, especially at the end. Larin McLaughlin, thank you for your enthusiasm about the project and ideas about how to promote it.

Stephanie Evans, Barbara Sutton, and Erica Williams, thank you connecting me to many of the contributors. Additionally, thanks to the many people who circulated the student call for art and “why GWSS?”, especially Carrie Baker, Elena Tajima Creef, Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs, Kasturi Ray, and Shereen Siddiqui.

Thank you to University of Washington Seattle librarian Maryam Fakouri who helped me figure out copyright issues, and Ms. Magazine for letting Beverly Guy-Sheftall and me reprint her 2009 Introduction.

Sarah Cannon, thank you for working as my copy editor; I have never worked with one so enthusiastic about everything she read! Hopefully your rekindled love of GWSS will wear off on Liza as she begins college.

Thank you to all of the contributors for putting up with my emails requesting this or that and committing your time to this non-traditional publication. Special thanks to the Black contributors who kept pushing through even after Breonna Taylor’s and George Floyd’s murders, the ensuing police brutality against the mass protests, and the collective trauma that lingers in the air. I hope this project provides more resources for us to teach about Black and Africana feminism and why GWSS is fundamental for understanding and dismantling the carceral state.

Finally, to my family. My parents, dad (Barry), mom (Lynda), and stepdad (Frank) who combined are the perfect lefty-feminist-hippy-Jewish parental cocktail of unwavering support. To Barrie and Aaron for lifting me out of my pandemic induced funk, by sharing TikTok dog videos and English Premiere League goals on YouTube (in lieu of our Sounders) so I could get my energy back and start working again. And thank you Dave, my everything, for everything. You have way too much faith in me.