The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them)

In *The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them),* political strategist, leader, and author Atima Omara presents her first book about the significant role Black women have played in creating change and shaping American democracy. Part political analysis, part history, and part memoir, her book uses the term "instigators" to describe Black women, ages 18 to 45, who have historically faced racism and sexism. These experiences helped them challenge injustice and develop strong leadership and organizational skills that were, and continue to be, instrumental in building a more inclusive and representative democracy. With her political background as a former Democratic Party leader, she felt compelled to write a book in response to those in the same realm who haven't had to face the same difficulties she has endured as a Black woman. "There really isn't anything, kind of, in explicitly the political space from someone who's worked in politics and advocacy and all of these different spaces that is in public office like myself who can really pull all of these threads together and comes from the background that I do... I wanted to put something out there that really was counter to some of the narratives from people who haven't really had to consider surviving or live in a country where people just weren't responsive to them, where government wasn't responsive to them... and so I wanted to write a book for those people and present a perspective that I think is missing in the narrative."

Regarding the women she features in her book, she explains that it was not an easy decision choosing whom to include. "There were so many amazing women... I really was trying to think of people whose story really made the point that I was trying to make with each chapter and the overall thesis, and even now I'm doing just more research, putting together some short videos that I put on YouTube for information... a lot of it is women, but too, it's black women, so the stories and understanding their lives and who they are and their motivations and the work that they did even if it was tremendous and amazing are not acknowledged in the same way as if they were men, or certainly white men."