Three years later, I try to imagine the newcomer to Bridge. What do
you need to know? I have heard from people that the book has
helped change some minds (and hopefully hearts as well), but it has
changed no one more than the women who contributed to its exis
tence. It has changed my life so fundamentally that today I feel al
most the worst person to introduce you to Bridge, to see it through
fresh eyes. Rather your introduction or even réintroduction should
come from the voices of the women of color who first discovered the
book:
The woman writers seemed to be speaking to me, and
they actually understood what I was going through.
Many of you put into words feelings I have had that I
had no way of expressing…The writings justified
some of my thoughts telling me I had a right to feel as I
did. It is remarkable to me that one book could have
such an impact. So many feelings were brought alive
inside me.*