Africana Tea
A Global History of Tea and Black Women's Health
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Africana Tea is an illustrated tea table book that catalogs 320 narratives about Black women’s diverse experiences with tea as a tool for health, healing, and wellness. Based on research by Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans and her work on historical wellness, Africana Tea unveils the roots of Black women’s international tea culture. From hibiscus in Egypt and Jamaica to black tea in Kenya, sassafras or orange pekoe iced tea in the US South, and aromatic herbal teas of California, Black women’s wellness is steeped in tea history. This tea table book traces the historical, geographic, health, and educational traditions of collective care and offers a tea tasting journal for self-care.
DEDICATION MY CUP RUNNETH OVER
Homage: To Artist Annie Lee
Foreword: Dr. Nadia Richardson, Black Women’s Mental Health Institute
INTRODUCTION SPILL THE TEA: TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT #HISTORICALWELLNESS
Welcome to the Africana Tea Table!: An Invitation to Learn, Create, and Teach Self-Care
PART I THE PAST: LEARN SELF-CARE
Tea Traditions in the Diaspora: Mapping Global Health
PART II THE PRESENT: CREATE SELF-CARE
Six Wellness Strategies: Pursuing Holistic Health
PART III THE FUTURE: TEACH SELF-CARE
Sharing a Cup of Mental Health
PART IV THE TEA TASTING JOURNAL Africana Tea— From A To Z
CONCLUSION TAKE NO TEA FOR THE FEVER: THE PRACTICE OF COLLECTIVE SELF-CARE
Final Word: Mental Health, Wellness, and the Practice of Collective Self-Care as an Act of Resistance
AUTHOR & CONTRIBUTOR BIOS
About The Author
About The Artist
About The Tea Specialist
About The Mental Health Professional
Acknowledgements
Africana Tea celebrates artist Annie Lee. Her painting, titled “My Cup Runneth Over,” reflects the heartbeat of Black women’s collective self-care—that is, to love oneself, even as we love others. Aretha Franklin’s song of the same name (inspired by the Psalm 91 Bible verse), inspires us to love more and live in gratitude. I envisioned this illustrated project to honor artists, as well as writers like Maya Angelou. As a memoirists, Angelou taught her intellectual daughters to “take no tea for the fever,” meaning not to put up with foolishness. This book expands on a research agenda that I call #HistoricalWellness. I chose Annie Lee’s artwork “My Cup Runneth Over” as the cover for my last book, Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace (2021). As seen in that painting, tea is a wellness tradition deeply rooted in Black women’s history. I pray the wisdom traditions in this book nourish your soul so your “cup runneth over with love.” I hope this tea table book fosters inner peace so readers can learn to put up with less foolishness and create spaces for individuals and communities to savor life. This book is a creative manifestation of the past three decades of my work in higher education. Though I use the first person, “I” voice throughout the text of this book, know that my voice is an amplification of others—especially my collaborators on this project—who inspire me to keep reading, writing, and speaking in ways that foster Black women’s wellness.
~Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans
July 15, 2023
Atlanta, GA
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About the Book
Africana Tea is an illustrated tea table book that catalogs 320 narratives about Black women’s diverse experiences with tea as a tool for health, healing, and wellness. Based on research by Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans and her work on historical wellness, Africana Tea unveils the roots of Black women’s international tea culture. From hibiscus in Egypt and Jamaica to black tea in Kenya, sassafras or orange pekoe iced tea in the US South, and aromatic herbal teas of California, Black women’s wellness is steeped in tea history. This tea table book traces the historical, geographic, health, and educational traditions of collective care and offers a tea tasting journal for self-care.
About the Author
Dr. Evans is a Professor of Black Women's Studies in the Institute for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and affiliate faculty of Africana Studies (AAS) at Georgia State University. She served twelve consecutive years as department chair at Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University, and University of Florida.
Dr. Evans has sustained a research interest in Black women's intellectual history for over two decades. Her research is rooted in educational history but has evolved to include mental health and wellness as a way to address systemic stressors of being department chair. She began studying Black women’s wellness in 2013 and expanded her research on memoirs from investigating “the life of the mind” to practicing the life of the mind, body, and spirit. In her writing, teaching, and speaking, she works to share how Black women elders—especially educators—have navigated the relentless demands of academe.
Dr. Evans is editor of the Black Women's Wellness book series at SUNY Press and has published four single-authored books:
· Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books (SUNY, 2024)
· Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace (SUNY, 2021)
· Black Passports: Travel Memoirs as a Tool for Youth Empowerment (SUNY, 2014)
· Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850-1954: An Intellectual History (UF, 2007)
She is also lead co-editor of five books:
· Dear Department Chair: Letters from Black Women Leaders to the Next Generation (Wayne State, 2023)
· Black Women and Public Health: Strategies to Name, Locate, and Change Systems of Power (2022)
· Black Women and Social Justice Education: Legacies and Lessons (SUNY, 2019)
· Black Women's Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability (SUNY Press, 2017)
· African Americans and Community Engagement in Higher Education (SUNY, 2009).
View the full portfolio for Dr. Evans at https://professorevans.net/.