Unbound - by Tarana Burke

Book Synopsis

From the founder and activist behind the largest movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Tarana Burke shares her never before revealed life story of how she first came to say me too and launch one of the largest cultural events in American history.

After a long, difficult day working with young Black girls who had suffered the unimaginable, Tarana tossed in her bed, unable to sleep as a fit of memories intruded into her thoughts. How could she help these girls if she couldn't even be honest with herself and face her own demons. A fitful night led to pages and pages of scribbled notes with two clear words at the top: Me too.

Tarana Burke is the founder and activist behind the largest social movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the me too movement, but first she had to find the strength to say me too herself. Unbound is the story of how she came to those two words, after a childhood growing up in the Bronx with a loving mother that took a terrible turn when she was sexually assaulted. She became withdrawn and her self split, there was the Tarana that was a good student, model kid, and eager to please young girl, and then there was the Tarana that she hid from everyone else, the one she believed to be bad. The one that would take all the love in her life away if she revealed.

Tarana's debut memoir explores how to piece back together our fractured selves. How to not just bring the me too movement back to empathy, but how to empathize with our past selves, with our bad selves, and how to begin to love ourselves unabashedly. Healing starts with empowerment, and to Tarana empowerment starts with empathy. This is her story of finding that for herself, and then spreading it to an entire world.

About the Author

Tarana Burke has always been struck by a commitment to justice and equity. As the founder of the 'me too' movement and subsequent nonprofit, Burke works to dismantle the cycle of sexual violence and other systemic issues that disproportionately impact marginalized people. Tarana's passion for community organizing began in the late 1980s, when as a young girl she joined a youth development organization called 21st Century. Since then she has launched initiatives around issues of racial discrimination, housing inequality, and economic justice. Her work has connected a vast network of influential people, including much of Hollywood, the founder of the Women's March Tamika Mallory, leading intellectuals and authors like Ishmael Beah and Gloria Steinem. She was 2017 TIME Person of the Year and the winner of the 2019 Sydney Peace Prize, and has been the recipient of countless other accolades. She is the co-editor with Brené Brown of the instant New York Times bestseller You Are Your Best Thing.