Jamilla D. VanDyke-Bailey

Jamilla D. VanDyke-Bailey is a 27-year-old, pro-black feminist who uses her writing to provide a voice for silent traumas, and to hopefully create a sense of belonging amongst the misfits. She has had work published in The Southhampton Review, K’in Literary Journal, and the Santa Clara Review. Her collection of poetry, than we have been, will be published by Weasel Press in the summer of 2021.

Treasure Box

by Jamilla D. VanDyke-Bailey | March 7, 2023

In Treasure Box, Jamilla VanDyke-Bailey reflects on an important conversation that came too late.

A Black mother comforting her teenage daughter

The Girl and the Nappy Halo

by Jamilla D. VanDyke-Bailey | May 21, 2021

As I settle into my pregnancy, I fantasize about the human I’m going to bring into the world. I picture a girl. Beautiful. Black. Freckled like her father. Myopic like me. When she is thirteen we will sit down and have the talk. Not about periods. Or boys. Or girls. Or bodies. Or pets. Or HBCUs. Or sex. But about getting a perm.