Johnaé Strong

Johnaé Strong is an educator, organizer, and creative who has been working at the intersection of social movements, healing, and education for over a decade. Her work in Chicago has included fighting for liberation for all Black people as a founding member and leader with BYP100, a political organization for 18-35 year old Black folks in Chicago and across the nation. During this time Johnaé has taken part in actions to decriminalize marijuana, counter police brutality and surveillance, and imagine a self-determined Black Chicago. She has also shown a commitment to education justice as a CPS teacher and Restorative Justice practitioner and coordinator with the Grassroots Education Movement Alliance, a coalition of member-organizations including community and labor focusing on campaigns against state violence and school privatization and amplifying community-led strategies. Johnaé holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Master of Arts in Education from the University of Chicago.

When she isn't writing, Johnaé is on a personal discovery of healing and is a commitment to healing Black girls everywhere starting with herself and raising two beautiful children, Akeim and Jari, and traveling throughout the continent of Africa. Publishing this book represents a testament to the widely-overlooked yet deeply critical labor of mothers who love and fight; protect and mourn; and struggle yet persist to triumph. Their story is mine and it deserves to be told with care and shared to empower others.