( ENSPIRE Community Spotlight ) Dr. DeLisha Tapscott and Dr. Nardos Ghebreab, Ph.D, Building Safe Havens for Black Women Online
Co-Founders Dr. DeLisha Tapscott, Ed.D., and Dr. Nardos Ghebreab, Ph.D, created Black Girl Narrative, a nurturing online space for authentic narratives. In a world where the digital landscape and media are evolving, the need for inclusive and empowering online spaces is more critical than ever. This digital space was designed through the framework of Fractured Visibility Theory. Created by Dr. Tapscott, the Fractured Visibility Theory examines the experience of Black women, who are hypervisible yet often overlooked or unheard in both digital and physical spaces. From the classrooms to comment sections, boardrooms, and social media platforms.
Dr. Tapscott’s theory shows how Black women are dismissed, lack safety, and their needs are not met, all while still being observed, scrutinized, and exploited by other individuals. With a new redesign and a refreshed Instagram platform, the digital transformation of Black Girl Narrative involves research and heartfelt storytelling that empowers the community of digital innovators. An advocacy platform built by and for Black women, with visual campaigns, publication, and narrative research.
Dr. Nardos Ghebreab is an educator, researcher, and DEI consultant. With a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning Policy and Leadership from the University of Maryland, her research focuses on race, racism, and the experience of Black teachers in the education system. Dr. DeLisha Tapscott is the curator of Black Girl Narrative, a digital theorist and researcher. Her work centers on the stories of unseen Black women. The author of “Race, Gender, and Resistance in Digital Relationships” has built her Fractured Visibility Theory. In addition, her essay, “Beyond the Veil: The Black Woman I Could Be,” appears in “The Majestic Place: The Freedom Possible in Black Women’s Leadership,” a collective.
Furthermore, they collectively created “The Love We Code: Black Women, Digital Safe Havens, and Resistance,” a digital project report that explores how Black women navigate and resist digital harm, which fosters a nurturing digital environment. Through their expertise, they share the inspiration behind Black Girl Narrative, The Love We Code Report, key strategies, toolkits, and advocacy resources, as well as their long-term aspirations for Black Girl Narrative, and much more.
What inspired the creation of Black Girl Narrative, and how has this collaboration shaped the vision for a more inclusive digital space?
Black Girl Narrative was born from a few events, sister-girl time, and reflections on our experiences. DeLisha started the Black Superwoman Chronicles years ago, a platform where Black women can write and share their stories and art with the world. DeLisha had to put it down for a few years while she pursued her doctoral degree. We were both matriculating through our respective doctoral programs while working full-time and navigating the 2020 pandemic. This was also at a time when the media increased their attention on the ongoing protests of state-sanctioned violence against George Floyd.
We talked almost daily, holding and supporting each other as we tried to care for ourselves, our families, and our overall well-being. We shared so many stories of our experiences– what we saw, heard, and felt– as the world tried to shape distorted narratives of Black women and Black girls.
It wasn’t lost on us that the media did not amplify our voices as loudly as others when we should have been protected – Oluwatoyin Salau, India Kager, and Tanisha Anderson, to name a few. When the media did share these stories, they quite often and widely shared violent images of how anyone and everyone treated Black women. These digital spaces created space for others to debate our existence and erase our efforts to protect our loved ones.
So we also desperately wanted spaces where Black women’s narratives weren’t elevated only when they were harmed. We sought a digital space where all our narratives could be embraced, celebrated, and protected, so that our existence wouldn’t be commodified, obscured, or erased. We knew we needed to revive the Black Superwoman Chronicles.
This time, however, it had to shift to intentionally center and honor the complexities that Black women hold in our stories, experiences, and emotions. We are both strong and soft. We fiercely protect, but also deserve to be fiercely protected. We demand to take up space, but we also need spaces to exist for us. So, Black Girl Narrative centers on these values to amplify how Black women already create digital spaces for ourselves by sharing our stories. In doing so, we demonstrate to the world how to create inclusive digital spaces effectively.
The Love We Code report and the advocacy toolkit highlight Black women’s digital safe havens. Could you both elaborate on the key strategies that cultivate these sanctuaries and how BGN plans to equip the community with these tools for cultural accountability?
The Love We Code highlights several strategies to cultivate these sanctuaries. A few that might provide significant progress quickly are those related to greater autonomy in user-controlled safety features. Increasing the level of autonomy users have in viewing content that helps them feel safe, controlling their visibility in digital spaces, and reporting harmful content that leads to consequences contributes to digital sanctuaries.
We outline in our report that 43% of our survey respondents encounter misogynoir at least monthly, and 42% of those respondents shared that while they feel that they rarely experience misogynoir, their engagement with digital spaces is shaped by the unpredictability of misogynoir-filled content. To create digital sanctuaries, Black women must be exposed to less harmful content and be protected from the threat of harmful content, which currently appears on their timelines and message boards. When users have more control over user options and see consequences for uploading harmful content, digital spaces have the potential to become sanctuaries for Black women.
Dr. Ghebreab: How has your experience as an educator, researcher, and DEI consultant contributed to the Black Girl Narrative projects and reports?
I view my journey in each of these professional roles as an opportunity to learn about myself and what I believe should be true about how Black women navigate the world. Being an expert in education and DEI constantly reminds me that our Blackness, womanhood, and humanity must remain at the center in research. This principle has been historically neglected in the research field.
In that same vein, these roles enable me to vehemently defend the notion that authentic storytelling is a form of research. That is another often-contested notion in the research field. At Black Girl Narrative, we center authentic storytelling in our work and research because it allows us to ask the right questions about Black women’s experiences and collect data that reflects both breadth and depth. It is through authentic storytelling that we learn about ourselves and the experiences of Black women.
Over the years, I’ve found that stories bridge across lines of difference and humanize our experiences to those who can’t fathom how digital spaces can both harbor violence and forge resistance in the same space. Through authentic storytelling, we uncover the nuanced ways Black women interpret, resist, and navigate the digital world, which is central to BGN.
Dr. Tapscott: Your Fractured Visibility Theory discusses hyper-visibility and the erasure of Black women in digital and physical spaces. How does Black Girl Narrative’s intentional narrative strategic design combat this phenomenon, ensuring Black women’s experiences are seen, heard, and affirmed?
The Fractured Visibility Theory was created to help us name the very specific tension that Black women experience – being hyper-visible in ways that are extractive, stereotyped, or surveilled, while at the same time being erased in spaces that require care, nuance, or cognition.
Black Girl Narrative was created as a direct response to that tension. Our strategic narrative design centers Black women not just as subjects but as narrators, cultural architects, and truth-tellers with multi-layered stories to tell. Through our campaigns, long-form storytelling, visual archives, and collective authorship, we’re intentionally designing a digital ecosystem where Black women feel seen as whole. On their own terms, in their own language.
What are the toolkits and advocacy resources Black Girl Narrative provides for its community?
Black Girl Narrative utilizes storytelling to capture and maintain collective memory and advocacy. The toolkits, resources, and projects we create are designed to engage with our community while also recognizing that others outside the community may learn from and engage with our work. We are currently working on a toolkit called Coding Love Into Systems, which is rooted in our first digital report, The Love We Code. This toolkit will support individuals, educators, and organizations in recognizing digital harm and implementing care-centered communications practices.
We are also in the process of launching our first storytelling campaign, ‘Dear Black Girl Who Stayed Online Anyway,’ which is a project that serves as a love letter to Black women who navigated harm, built community, and created sanctuary in spaces that weren’t made for them. The campaign features a living archive of written stories, voice notes, and visual narratives submitted by Black women, alongside resources that enable anyone to participate, reflect, and advocate. It’s part healing and part cultural record.
What are the long-term aspirations for Black Girl Narrative’s impact? What do you envision the platform growing into, continuing to honor the everyday lives of Black women and driving systemic change through advocacy?
We envision Black Girl Narrative as a central space where our stories are not only honored but also used to transform how society sees and engages with Black women. Through our research and advocacy, the narratives we uplift serve as powerful tools to influence policy and reshape institutional practices to reflect what Black women truly need to feel safe, valued, and protected. Our report, ‘The Love We Code,’ sheds light on the experiences of Black women in digital spaces and marks the beginning of our ongoing commitment to research and advocacy rooted in our lived realities.
The Black Girl Narrative digital platform is strategic with every detail of cultural relevance and clarity. The insights that Dr. Tapscott and Ghebreab Ph.D. D brings to Black Girl Narrative the intersection of technology, culture, and empowerment. Their dedication to creating a safe digital space, which includes long-form essays, digital reports, and theory-based tools, is rooted in Black Feminist research. Here’s to a more inclusive digital future and the power of transformation. Check out their Instagram or visit https://www.blackgirlnarrative.com/ for more information.
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