Description and Demographics

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, I have had the privilege of working with thousands of African American adolescent girls who have participated in our prevention interventions and who have been involved as participants in research studies we have conducted. Additionally, colleagues and I have had both formal and informal discussions and interviews with many African American girls. Sometimes, I have simply observed them in their daily activities while they were in school, attending after school programming, and in community and religious activities. My learning has also come from personal interactions and experiences. I have 1 daughter, 12 nieces, and 2 goddaughters whose lives I have been a part of. This book is about these girls, who they are, their achievements, their dreams, their hopes, and to some degree their failures.