In Our Shoes, Brianna Holt
In Our Shoes, Brianna Holt
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In Our Shoes
On Being a Young Black Woman in Not-So "Post-Racial" America

Author: Brianna Holt

Narrator: Brianna Holt

Unabridged: 6 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 04/11/2023

Synopsis

Part memoir, part cultural critique, In Our Shoes uses pop culture and author Brianna Holt’s own lived experience to dissect the stereotypes and preconceived notions that young Black women must overcome in America today.

In this fresh exploration of cultural appropriation, wokeness, tone policing, and more, Holt carefully dismantles myths about Black womanhood, allowing readers to assess their biases while examining the roles Black millennial women are forced to take on simply to survive.
 
Through nine thoughtful chapters—such as “Leave the Box Braids for the Black Girls” and “Why Are You So Dark?”—laced with searing commentary, personal anecdotes from Brianna’s own life, and interviews conducted with “everyday” Black women and experts across different fields, In Our Shoes reveals the complexities of existence for Black women and creates a thought-provoking book that helps readers to learn, empathize, reflect, and, most importantly, act.
 
A history, a work of criticism, a piece of reporting, and a call to action, In Our Shoes is a timely exploration of race and womanhood that will entertain, inspire, and inform in equal measures.

About The Author

Brianna Holt is an author, screenwriter, and reporter living in New York City. Holt's writing has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, GQ, The Cut, The Atlantic, Complex, and more, including her own column, Active Voice, through Medium’s GEN. In Our Shoes is her first book.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Siddharth on February 07, 2024

As a gay Indian immigrant man, reading this book has led me to the realization that collectively, we are falling short. There exists a significant gap in the efforts of brown, white, and other non-black communities. Mere participation in social media sharing or striving to align with the "woke" cate......more

Goodreads review by Karen on May 07, 2023

DNF. I was hoping for something quite different. Unfortunately, I stopped reading at page 200 of 270. Too many books too little time.......more

Goodreads review by Abena on May 02, 2023

Exceptional exceptional exceptional! Im biased because Brianna is one of my closest friends and I did support her in writing the book but even a year after editing it it’s still so beautiful. To tell Black stories from a place of vulnerability and not feeling to mince words is absolutely no small fe......more

Goodreads review by Anna on May 18, 2023

This book was informative and personal, a must-read. The audience that will relate to this memoir the most are black women but that doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't read it- to the contrary, other audiences should. I will never relate to most of the experiences in the book but it does point out......more

Goodreads review by Talbot on April 21, 2025

Nonfiction. My summary: Today’s racism may be less overt, violent, and intentional…let’s be aware it still exits and can be felt in enduring ways. As a liberal and minority person living in the racially diverse California Bay Area, the time reading the first third of the book felt a little obvious to......more

Quotes

"Holt offers particularly potent critiques of unconscious bias in the workplace and the many flaws inherent in white feminism. A commendable, colloquial perspective on a continually fraught topic.” —Kirkus

"Part memoir and part cultural critique, Holt’s collection of essays about Black millennial womanhood continues a very important conversation around how Black women and femmes can unlearn the harmful ideologies projected onto them by our white supremacist society, while also reclaiming our existence and empathizing with that of others who look like us." —Refinery29

“In Our Shoes is a collection of essays that shine a light on the issues Black millennial women face every day. Author Brianna Holt brilliantly tackles everything from code-switching and tone policing to the dangers of medical misinformation." —The Root

"...dives deeply into the plights of Generation Z's young Black females.” —Ebony

"In nine chapters, Holt breaks down the tricky existence faced by Black millennial women taking advice from their Baby Boomer and Gen X predecessors who are trailblazing new paths for young Black women." —Dallas Observer

"Blending personal memoir with astute cultural analysis, “In Our Shoes” artfully employs the lens of pop culture and author Brianna Holt’s firsthand encounters to deconstruct the pervasive stereotypes and preconceived notions young Black women face in America." —The Grio

“A spectacular deconstruction of that word, peeling back the layers, a must-read because this kind of serious, long conversation on the page is just so simply good for us, all of us.” —Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of You

"Brianna Holt astutely observes that 'some people feel a great discomfort when Black women advocate for their well-being, share the harm others have caused them, or even express their joy.' In Our Shoes is a gorgeous, bold refutation of our white supremacist overculture’s insistence that Black women are a homogenous lot. Her book is also a tender love letter to Black womanhood itself.”—Sara Benincasa, actress and author of Real Artists Have Day Jobs

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