Author Dionne Ford, discusses her memoir, Go Back and Get It. She addresses the sacred value of the family archive, what it looks like to cultivate a daily ancestral practice, and the undeniable necessity of reparations to heal the wealth and education gaps woven into American society.
About Dionne Ford
Dionne Ford is author of the memoir Go Back and Get It, which was a 2024 finalist for the Hurston Wright Foundation Legacy Award. Dionne is also co-editor of the anthology Slavery's Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race and Reconciliation. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Virginia Quarterly Review, LitHub, The Boston Globe, New Jersey Monthly, Rumpus and Ebony among other publications and won awards from the the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Association of Black Journalists and the Newswomen's Club of New York. Most recently, she received a 2026 Individual Artist Finalist award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Reclaim Ownership of Your Family Archive: You do not need to wait for outside authorities or a formal stamp of approval to tell you who you are. Your family history and internal architecture carry a sacred authority that is contained within you.
- Value the Sacredness of Oral Storytelling: Long before documentation existed, human beings preserved their legacies through oral histories. Honoring the stories passed down by a grandparent—exactly as they were told—is a vital, non-negotiable step in intergenerational healing.
- Engage in Embodied Ancestral Connections: Connecting with your lineage can be a deeply visceral, physical experience. Cultivating mindful habits, creating a personal altar, or engaging in ancestral physical arts like Capoeira bridges generation gaps and embodies the strength of those who came before you.
- Commit to a Daily Relational Ritual: Staying connected to your ancestors doesn't have to be a rigid, distant concept. Implementing a simple morning devotional or checking in with your lineage throughout the day keeps their memory alive and treats them like a close, accessible friend.
- Acknowledge the Ripple Effect of Reparations: Reparations are a fully tangible, executable necessity to address systemic wealth gaps, property tax structures, and education inequities. Repairing a historical wrong does not just benefit the harmed party; it actively heals and elevates the justice of the entire society.
Resources
Connect with Dionne
Theme music written and performed by Carter Penny.
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