Daugther Of The Dust

<p>This book is a love letter- <br> to the women who came before me <br> to the girls growing into their power <br> and to the queens whose names were almost forgotten. </p><p><em>Daughters of the Dust</em> was born from the soil of silence. <br> For too long the stories of African queens-warriors leaders visionaries-have been buried beneath colonial lies dismissed in classrooms or reduced to myths. <br> But I wanted to bring them back to life. <br> Not just as history <br> but as <em>poetry.</em> </p><p>Every chapter in this book was written with reverence rage and love. <br> Reverence for their resilience. <br> Rage at their erasure. <br> Love for the legacy they've left in every Black woman who dares to stand tall.These twenty queens ruled across time across nations and across empires. <br> Some held swords. <br> Some held babies. <br> Some led armies. <br> Some ruled in exile. <br> But all of them-every single one-carried the weight of their people their gender and their skin <br> on shoulders the world underestimated.This book is not meant to be final. <br> It is only a beginning. <br> There are hundreds-<em>thousands</em>-of African queens whose stories are still waiting to be unearthed. <br> If this book makes you curious makes you question or makes you proud- <br> then let it push you further. <br> Research them. <br> Speak their names. <br> Tell their stories to your children. </p><p>Because the dust remembers. <br> And now <br> so do we. </p><p>- Denise Fryson </p>