100 Years of Black women in sports + a catch up

You’re receiving this newsletter because you signed up directly or were subscribed to The Black Sportswoman. I closed that publication in May, but I’ve continued to research and write about Black women athletes – just in a different way. More about that later in this newsletter!

Research updates and general observations from a public historian (!!). I will finish grad school in May 2025). My ultimate goal is to do more project-based work with my research, so I want a place where I can share updates with you and provide links to projects I’m working on when they go live.

In this first edition, I’m sharing the history-related projects I’ve done since closing The Black Sportswoman. I also want to give people a chance to unsubscribe if they would like, before I get to the good stuff. I have a lot to share.

Next week I’ll tell you more about my current research project/program capstone. Hint: 🏀

Full disclosure, I will not only focus on sports history with Bria + History. I’m balancing multiple projects, including my research and writing about a neighborhood dismantled by Atlanta airport expansion for my graduate research assistantship (I just call it an internship), which has influenced me a ton.

Now onto recently published projects!

VERSIE JEAN: A Love Story – My final project for my Oral History class was a 37-minute audio story based on a three plus hour-long oral history interview with my grandmother.

100 Years of Black Women in Sports – A story I felt uniquely qualified to tell is currently on stands in ESSENCE Magazine! “100 Years of Black Women in Sports” is a survey of the accomplishments, challenges, and resilience of Black women athletes over the last century in the United States. It’s a story about the past, the present, and the future – I got to interview a coach, an athlete, and the icon Dr. Amira Rose Davis.

This is one of those surreal and exciting moments that I wanted to share with you in case you wanted to grab a physical copy of the magazine. The story isn’t online yet, but I’ll share that link if and when it is. Also, I’ve been paying attention to ESSENCE, and I have noticed an increase in women’s sports coverage over the last year. It’s something to look out for.

I have to thank the great Christina Tapper again for recommending me. Check her out if you’re in need of editorial or podcast consulting.

Internship at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – this summer I got paid to research Black basketball history! I was set to add women’s stories (and a few men’s) to the Black Basketball exhibit. While I don’t know if my work has ultimately been added to the exhibit, the time dedicated to researching Black basketball history expanded my knowledge and that work was another factor that helped me decide on my capstone subject. All in all – it was worth it in the end.

Over the last nine months, I’ve also continued presentations and speaking at colleges and universities, so if you’re in need or know of anyone looking for a speaker, writer, or researcher as it relates to Black women athletes and sports history, let me know. I’m also open to editing work. Email me at briatfel@gmail.com or reply here if there are any opportunities you think I should know about.

Next week, I’ll be able to tell you all about my capstone, how we got here, and my digital mapping class, and my archival research thus far. And I’ll be sharing photos!

Danyel Smith’s interview with Felicia Pride – Danyel Smith is one of the greats, but in this podcast I learned more about the personal things she went through as she built her “shiny career.” It was very inspiring because aren’t we all going through something, but we don’t always hear about the journey. A quote pod from the pod that I’ve turned into a mantra: “More risk. More truth.”

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey – I’m not a TV person at all, and I would watch this 20 more times. This is a series set in Atlanta based on a book by Walter Mosley.

The acting was phenomenal but what stands out to me was the characterization and how well the script and actors reflected reality without being “trope-y” or surface level. To me, fleshing out the characters’ humanity in their actions and words is hard to write but reflects the writers’ ability to see and understand people and write that knowledge. It’s on Apple TV but doing the free trial and finishing it in two days will be worth the charge when I ultimately forget to cancel.