The stories the girls write inspire other young Black girls and validate Black cultural identities through engagement in meaningful experiences to support and strengthen the development of positive self-worth and inner beauty within Black Girls. Black girls can use their own voices to counter dominant social constructions of Blackness and media, their images can begin to become normalised in mainstream media, giving Black girls the opportunity to be known, seen and heard. The articles, stories, and illustrations the girls create emphasize the girls’ age appropriate cultural experiences. The artwork they create is intended to represent Black identity as well as their African and Caribbean backgrounds. The girls begin to move away from Eurocentric and mainstream representations and focus on Black/African/Caribbean histories, cultures, experiences and backgrounds. The research the girls undertake intentionally seeks to explore Black/African/Caribbean histories and experiences. Work undertaken for the magazine also seeks to rewrite Eurocentric representations of Black people by offering alternatives that speak to the cultures and experiences of the girls. Often the interviews the girls undertake of professionals in different fields are intended to validate Black experiences and give the girls opportunities to experience and to question political and social norms in mainstream culture.
Black Youth Write invites contributors to submit articles and artwork for publication in Black Girl’s Magazine.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/black-girls-magazine-queens-park-1.4015730