The Book

Colored Me

Colored Me: Black Women Shout from the Ivory Tower is a vibrant collection of narratives and essays from Black women who were educated at elite private schools. Each gift of personal wisdom brings a fresh angle to the discussion of what it takes to succeed as a woman of color in modern society. This volume presents the kind of kitchen table truth-telling that we all can embrace.

The title of this book pays homage to Zora Neale Hurston who, in her 1929 article “How it Feels to be Colored Me”, discussed how it felt to be a “colored” woman in a sea of whiteness at Barnard College. Hurston eloquently states, “[b]eside the waters of the Hudson, I feel my race. Among the thousand white persons [at Barnard], I am a dark rock surged upon, overswept by a creamy sea. I am surged upon and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself….”