Godmother's Price, How Zora Neale Hurston Taught Me About the Sacrificial Bargain

A few weeks ago, I received an email that changed everything. The subject line read: "Oxford Handbook of the Harlem Renaissance - Chapter Acceptance."I had to read it three times before I believed it. My chapter, "Godmother's Price: Zora Neale Hurston and the Sacrificial Bargain of Patronage"—had been accepted to the Oxford Handbook of the Harlem Renaissance, published by Oxford University Press.Out of an overwhelming number of submissions, my work was selected. I am now a published Oxford scholar. And I'm in my first year of my PhD program at Clark Atlanta University.But this episode is not about me bragging. This episode is about what my chapter is actually about. Because it's not just about Zora Neale Hurston. It's about every Black woman who has ever had to make a Sacrificial Bargain to achieve success.In this episode, I teach you about the Sacrificial Bargain, the framework that grounds my entire dissertation. I explain how it's different from the Faustian Bargain (the deal Black men make when they achieve mainstream success). While Black men are critiqued for trading their authenticity and community ties for wealth and power, Black women are critiqued for leveraging our bodies, sexuality, and emotional labor for access to resources and recognition.