Research & Literature

The ‘me too.’ Movement presents this collection of resources as one of the many places you can start your healing journey. Whether you find a memoir that lets you go inside the mind of an actual survivor through their first-person account of harm and healing, or you want to read up on statistics and research that can propel your own healing or activism, this ever-expanding library is for you.

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Rising Above The Scars

Johnnetta McSwain, Dream Wright Publications LLC, Memoir/Biography/Autobiography

Given that writing a memoir about sexual abuse and domestic violence are subjects that may be as difficult to read as they are to write, what is immediately noticeable is that McSwain provides the opportunity for the reader to prepare for the content, by contextualizing each nine-part timeline, chapter by chapter, with specific titles. There are no surprises.

For example, in Part 2: The Adolescent Years; broken down into chapters 6, 7, and 8 by “High School,” “My First Love,” and “High School Dropout,” the author writes, “I wanted so badly to know what it really felt like to make love.” This is a sentiment about which many of us could relate during that time of our lives.

Utilizing a conversational tone, Rising Above The Scars is reminiscent of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Like Angelou, Johnnetta McSwain not only details her trials and tribulations, she gives readers a blueprint for her road to triumphs, which can be used as a tool to offer hope to others who have been abused. Receiving her college degree, launching her organization, Breaking the City: Beating the Odds, and acquiring copyright of her comprehensive 12-Step Self-Awareness Model (SAM), listed in the book, are just a few examples that have catapulted Ms. McSwain to the position of a sought-after speaker on the national stage.

Of the several books I have read to learn about opportunities for healing survivors of sexual abuse, this one is worth the accolades that it has already received.

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Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women

African American Policy Forum | 2015

Say Her Name sheds light on Black women’s experiences of police violence in an effort to support a gender-inclusive approach to racial justice that centers on all Black lives equally. It is our hope that this document will serve as a tool for the resurgent racial justice movement to mobilize around the stories of Black women who have lost their lives to police violence.

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Survival is Victory

Diona L. Clark, Memoir/Biography/Autobiography

Survival Is Victory is a memoir written by Diona L. Clark. Ms. Clark pens an account that takes the reader on her journey and leads us through a maze of manipulation, denial and forgiveness. Easily drawn into the entrapment of charm, Diona describes the events that led to her making a terrible decision to go against the sage counsel of her family as she entered into a relationship with a man who, in the end, was abusive. After the power of his deceptive charm tactics wore off, Diona was left to deal with trying to rationalize her choice to stay. It finally took her coming face to face with the danger she was in when her abuser attempts to kill her.

Ms. Clark has written a story that is all too often the narrative of many women in society who are drawn into relationships with men who are charming in the beginning but who hide their true nature until the woman is invested in the relationship and either thinks they can change/help their partner, are too scared to leave, or are too embarrassed to ask for help.

The book is formatted in a unique style that invites the reader to observe Ms. Clark’s honest reflection of what she has learned through each chapter and offers the reader an opportunity to reflect as well. In the end, Ms. Clark’s journey toward forgiveness of herself and her abuser was rocky and rife with trial and error. In this way, the book offers the reader a realistic expectation of the timeline of the healing process.

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