Harris-Perry, Melissa. Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America (For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn’t Enough) (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011), $28.00, 392 pp. ISBN: 978-0-3001-6541-8 (cloth).

Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry is an unconventional study of Black women’s politics. The beauty of Harris-Perry’s analysis is the reframing of the study of politics to include personal questions alongside political inquiry. Harris-Perry’s thesis moves the study of Black women’s politics from their policy choices, political representation, electoral choices, community organizing, and political protests to understand how shame and stereotypes impact Black women’s personal lives and consequently their political lives. Harris-Perry argues that Black women’s political involvement is largely motivated by their quest to escape the shame associated with the controlling images and their internalization. Harris-Perry’s work will certainly reach a broad audience with its multi-method, interdisciplinary, and easy to understand language. As a Black woman, Harris-Perry also includes her own narrative in the text, which adds to the richness of the story.