“Chelsea. We did it.”
“We did. We did,” Chelsea repeats over and over, like a favorite song.
All day long school doesn’t seem like school because people keep stopping us and saying “congratulations,” and “you two should run for president of the United States,” and all kinds of things that let us know that our message got out, that our peers are with us.
After school, Chelsea, Isaac, and Nadine come over. On our way, walking from the subway, I notice a restaurant that’s just opened. The Coming Soon sign has been up so long, we got to thinking maybe it would never be open. But here it is. Something is always coming and going in this city. There is always something being born, something dying. We walk under scaffolding while our city is under repair—always. Maybe we are all like that, always a work in progress, always complete and lacking at the same time.
Isaac holds my hand; our fingers find home in each other. We turn onto my block, walk up the steps, and sit on the stoop.
May’s sun shines a gentle warmth, and we sit and people watch, saying hello occasionally to neighbors passing by. The four of us are quiet, just sitting and watching. The wind chimes mingle and talk with one another every time the wind blows. Finally, Chelsea says, “Why is everybody so quiet?”
Nadine laughs. “I knew you’d be the first to talk.”
We all laugh at this, and I remember those days when we used to play the silent game. “Who can be quiet the longest?” one of us would call out.
Chelsea never won. Not once. She has always been full of words, always one to speak them. “But for real, why is everyone so quiet?” she asks. She leans back on the edge of the step.
“I’m fine,” Isaac says. “I’m just thinking about what’s next.”
Nadine turns around. “Next? We won. It’s over.”
Chelsea says, “It’s not over—”
I finish her sentence. “We’re just beginning.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
What luck to be in this world with so many brilliant & beautiful people who have helped me to rise up.
Thank you to these collective families: Hagan, Dawson, Bazaz, Sferra & Flores for all the ways you have nurtured me—especially my parents: Gianina & Pat Hagan, who embraced my feminist ways from early on. Thank you to this community of people: Aracelis Girmay, Lisa Ascalon, Marina Hope Wilson, Parneshia Jones, Caroline Kennedy, Kelly Norman Ellis, Mitchell L. H. Douglas, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Dana Edell, Rob Linné, Lisa Green, Moriah Carlson, Rajeeyah Finnie-Myers, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, Andrée Greene, Catrina Ganey, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Vincent Toro, Grisel Acosta, Andy Powell, Tanya Gallo, Lindsey Homra-Siroky, Melissa Johnson, Kevin Flores, Danni Quintos, Nykeira Franks, Alondra Uribe, Megan Garriga, Lisa Roby, Kelly Wheatley, Becca Christensen, Kate Carothers Smith, Britt Kulsveen, Brandi Cusick Rimpsey, Leslie Blincoe, Michele Kotler, Berry, Ellie Clark, Alecia Whitaker, Stephanie Dionne Acosta, Jessica Wahlstrom, Will Maloney, Kate Dworkoski Scudese, Pete Scudese & Cindy Uh for all the ways you have held & propelled me.
Thank you to Renée Watson—what a supreme honor to work & vision & build & create with you.
& to Sarah Shumway Liu for your stunning editorial eye—I am so grateful. & to Bloomsbury for the care & love you’ve given to us.
& especially & always for David Flores—walking through this world with you is such blessing & balm.
Thank you to these spaces that honor voices in such profound ways: The Affrilachian Poets, Conjwoman, girlstory, DreamYard, Global Writes, Sawyer House Press, Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, VONA/Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, Northwestern University Press, The Girl Project & WHEELS: Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School.
—E. H.
Sometimes life imitates art. I was not prepared to lose my father during the final revision of Watch Us Rise. I am so thankful for the community of friends who prayed for my family, who offered love and concern. I am sure that without you checking on me and being there during that time of loss, I would not have finished this book. Thank you, Allie Jane Bruce, Beth Cho Grosart Little, Brendan Kiely, Catrina Ganey, Chanesa Jackson, David Flores, Dhonielle Clayton, Ellice Lee, Grace Kendall, Ibi Zoboi, Jason Reynolds, Jennifer Baker, Jonena Welch, Käthe Swaback, Kristen Wilkerson, Laura Williams McCaffrey, Lisa Green, Meg Kearney, Moriah Carlson, Namrata Tripathi, Nanya-Auki Goodrich, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Rajeeyah Finnie-Myers, Robin Robinson, Tokumbo Bodunde, Shadra Strickland, Shalanda Sims, and Tracey Baptiste.
To Ellen for being on this journey with me. What a wild adventure we’ve been on for over a decade now. I will forever cherish the time we had together to create and vision. How grateful I am that you are not only my colleague but my friend.
To Kendolyn Walker for taking such care of the Langston Hughes House and I, Too Arts Collective with me. Thank you for being flexible and understanding as I travel and write. You are irreplaceable.
To Trinity Church Harlem, DreamYard, and Community-Word Project for the spaces you create to make sure young voices are amplified and celebrated.
To early readers of this manuscript: Adedayo Perkovich, Dana Edell, Kori Johnson, and Linda Christensen. Thank you for your feedback and support.
To Angie Manfredi and Dana Edell, thank you for helping to shape our resource list.
And to my agent, Rosemary Stimola, my editor, Sarah Shumway, and my team at Bloomsbury. Thank you for championing my writing. I love doing this work alongside you.
And thank you to my family for encouraging me to soar, always. Mom, Roy and Vonda, Cheryl and Kevin, Trisa, and Dyan, it is a privilege to be loved by you.
—R. W.
RESOURCES FOR YOUNG ACTIVISTS
POETS WHO MAKE US RISE
Aracelis Girmay
Audre Lorde
Bianca Spriggs
Carole Boston Weatherford
Cheryl Boyce-Taylor
Cynthia Dewi Oka
Danni Quintos
Elizabeth Acevedo
Elizabeth Alexander
Eve L. Ewing
Fatimah Asghar
Franny Choi
Gwendolyn Brooks
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Jacqueline Woodson
Jamila Woods
Julia Alvarez
June Jordan
Kamilah Aisha Moon
Kelly Norman Ellis
Krista Franklin
Lacresha Berry
Lucille Clifton
Mahogany L. Browne
Margaret Walker
Margarita Engle
Maya Angelou
Mayda del Valle
Morgan Parker
Naomi Shihab Nye
Natalie Diaz
Natasha Trethewey
Nicole Sealey
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Grimes
Nikky Finney
Parneshia Jones
Patricia Smith
Phillis Wheatley
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Rachel McKibbens
Rachelle Cruz
Rita Dove
Ruth Forman
Safia Elhillo
Sandra Cisneros
Sonia Sanchez
Staceyann Chin
Suheir Hammad
t’ai freedom ford
Tiana Clark
Yesenia Montilla
BOOKS
Darms, Lisa, ed. The Riot Grrrl Collection. New York: The Feminist Press, 2013.
Findlen, Barbara, ed. Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation. New York: Seal Press, 2001.
Hernández, Daisy and Bushra Rehman, eds. Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism. New York: Seal Press, 2002.
hooks, bell. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000.
Karnes, Frances A. and Kristen R. Stephens. Empowered Girls: A Girl’s Guide to Positive Activism,
Volunteering, and Philanthropy. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2005.
Martin, Courtney and J. Courtney Sullivan, eds. Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists. New York: Seal Press, 2010.
Zeilinger, Julie. A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Dirty Word. New York: Seal Press, 2012.
BLOGS AND SITES THAT EDUCATE AND EMPOWER
Bitch Media: https://bitchmedia.org
Black Girl Dangerous: http://www.bgdblog.org/
Everyday Feminism: http://everydayfeminism.com/
Feminist.com: http://feminist.com/
Feminist Frequency: http://feministfrequency.com/
Feministe: http://www.feministe.us/blog/
Feministing: http://feministing.com/
Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog: https://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/
For Harriet: http://www.forharriet.com/
The Freechild Project: https://freechild.org/
Guerrilla Girls: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/
Ms. Magazine Blog: http://msmagazine.com/blog/
FOR AND BY GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN
About-Face: http://www.about-face.org/
The FBomb: http://www.womensmediacenter.com/fbomb/
F To The Third Power: https://ftothethirdpower.com/
New Moon Girls: https://newmoongirls.com/
Powered By Girl: http://www.poweredbygirl.org/
Rookie: http://www.rookiemag.com
ORGANIZATIONS THAT OFFER FREE ACTIVIST PROGRAMS FOR GIRLS
Girls For A Change: http://www.girlsforachange.org/
Girls for Gender Equity, Inc., New York City: http://www.ggenyc.org/
Girls Leadership Institute, National: https://girlsleadership.org
Girls Rock Camp Alliance, National: http://girlsrockcampalliance.org/
Hardy Girls Healthy Women, Waterville, Maine: http://www.hghw.org/
Project Girl, National: http://www.projectgirl.org/
School Girls Unite: http://www.schoolgirlsunite.org
Spark Movement: http://www.sparkmovement.org/
viBe Theater Experience, New York City: http://vibetheater.org
Where Is Your Line? Campaign: http://whereisyourline.org/
RESOURCES FOR BODY POSITIVITY
Jes Baker: http://www.themilitantbaker.com/p/resources.html
Virgie Tovar’s TEDx Talk, Lose Hate Not Weight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnsamRfxtY
READ MORE FROM AND ABOUT THE WOMEN QUOTED IN THIS BOOK
Here “Poetry is not only dream and vision”: Audre Lorde, “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1984).
Here “When I saw those toenails”: Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2010).
Here “To what extent do we self-construct, do we self-invent?”: “A One-Woman Global Village,” TED, https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village.
Here “I don’t believe anything in me”: Natalie Diaz, interviewed by Leslie Contreras Schwartz in the Kenyon Review blog, https://www.kenyonreview.org/2017/02/an-interview-with-natalie-diaz/.
Here “Our ideas and understanding of the world”: Reena Saini Kallat, interviewed by Farah Siddiqui for Contemporary Artists Series: A Conversation with Reena Saini Kallat, Culture Trip, https://theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles/contemporary-artists-series-a-conversation-with-reena-saini-kallat/.
Here “Your silence will not protect you”: Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals (San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1980).
Here “I’ve put up with too much, too long”: Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Stories (New York: Vintage, 1992).
Here “Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”: Frida Kahlo, The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait, Carlos Fuentes, ed. (Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 2005).
Here “The kind of beauty I want most”: Ruby Dee, quoted in Entertainment Weekly, https://ew.com/article/2014/06/12/ruby-dee-dies/.
Here “In a time of destruction”: Maxine Hong Kingston, The Fifth Book of Peace (New York: Knopf, 2003).
Here “hopscotch in a polka dot dress” and “red revolution love songs”: Ruth Forman, “Poetry Should Ride the Bus,” We Are the Young Magicians (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993).
Here “But still”: Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise,” And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems (New York: Random House, 1978).
BLOOMSBURY YA
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This electronic edition published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in the United States of America in February 2019 by Bloomsbury YA
Text copyright © 2019 by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Kaylani Juanita
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Watson, Renée, author. | Hagan, Ellen, author.
Title: Watch us rise / by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2019.
Summary: Frustrated by the way women are treated—even at their progressive New York City high school—two best friends start a Women’s Rights Club, post their essays and poems online, and watch it go viral, attracting positive support as well as trolls.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018045153 (print) • LCCN 2018051272 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-5476-0008-3 (hardback) • ISBN 978-1-5476-0009-0 (e-book)
Subjects: | CYAC: Women’s rights—Fiction. | Clubs—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | High schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.W32868 Wat 2019 (print) | LCC PZ7.W32868 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018045153
Book design by Jeanette Levy
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