Book SummaryUnbound, by Tarana Burke

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Unbound

You’ve likely seen the hashtag MeToo plastered across social media timelines and news headlines, but you may not know where the movement originated. In Unbound (2021), Tarana Burke explains how her community activism and journey of recovery from sexual violence led her to coin the phrase “me too” as a tool for healing. Burke also describes how that phrase inspired a revolution and explores the way her work relates to and departs from the viral MeToo movement, which signaled a seismic cultural shift encouraging survivors to speak up about their experiences. (Shortform note: We’ll use “me too” to refer to Burke’s movement and “MeToo” to refer to the viral movement Burke’s work helped inspire.)

For her part in pioneering the “me too” movement, Burke was named a 2017 Person of the Year...

Unbound Summary Burke’s Childhood Was Defined by Shame

Burke’s involvement in anti-sexual violence activism is rooted in her own experience of childhood sexual abuse. In this section, we’ll briefly describe how her victimization and other experiences inspired a deep-seated sense of shame.

Burke’s Experience of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Burke says the first time she was sexually assaulted, she was seven years old—too young to understand what was happening to her. When she was playing outside, an older boy who lived in her neighborhood led her out of her parents’ sight, penetrated her, and ejaculated on her (she thought he urinated). Then, beginning at age nine, she was molested by a different boy in her neighborhood. He took photos of the abuse and used them to blackmail her into submission, which worked until a painful encounter (he knocked against the cast on her broken leg) spurred Burke to fight back and steal his camera at the age of 12.

The abuse Burke endured made her feel humiliated and frightened, but she didn’t tell anyone what happened for two reasons. First, she felt that she had done something wrong and would get into trouble if she disclosed the assault. Burke explains that she had been taught not to let anyone...

Unbound Summary Burke Channeled Anger Into Activism

Although Burke’s childhood was defined by shame, that feeling transmuted into anger when she was a teenager—and Burke channeled it into community activism. In this section, we’ll discuss the events that led to this transformation and explore how Burke’s activism made her feel empowered. Then, we’ll discuss how Burke turned community organizing into a career that was both rewarding and challenging.

Burke’s Pro-Black Radicalism Empowered Her

Burke explains that although she found solace in the Catholic Church’s teachings about redemption and forgiveness as a child, she gradually divested from the church she’d grown up in and chose to attend a public high school. This transition took place because her grandfather, a fiercely pro-Black radical follower of activists like Malcolm X, encouraged her to read books about Black history and to question the church’s complicity in the slave trade. In high school, she became known for her pro-Black views, which she defended staunchly when faced with racist lessons and comments from white teachers.

(Shortform note: Historians say that the Pope Nicholas V ignited the transatlantic slave trade in 1452 when he issued an edict called [the...

Unbound Summary How Burke Founded the “me too” Movement

After Burke’s experience with Heaven prompted her to take the first step toward healing, she continued to pursue both personal and professional growth. In this section, we’ll discuss how becoming a mother inspired Burke to deepen her commitment to healing and protect her child from abuse. We’ll also discuss how a series of betrayals and dead ends in her community led Burke to help others heal by founding the “me too” movement.

Motherhood Empowered Burke to Resist Abuse

After Burke moved to Selma, her on-and-off boyfriend, Sean, joined her. She reveals that Sean had always been abusive—for example, when they were in high school, he threatened to kill himself if she moved away for college. But she didn’t realize that he was abusive until an incident that occurred after she became pregnant at age 23. During an argument, Sean attacked her, trapped her for hours, threatened to kill her, and finally raped her. She realized that this was different from other fights they’d had—he took advantage of her pregnancy, which made self-defense more difficult. She knew that she didn’t want to expose her child to such an unhealthy relationship, so a few days later, she broke up with...

Unbound Summary The Impact of Burke’s “me too” Movement

We just discussed how the toxicity that enveloped Burke’s community in Selma pushed her to found the “me too” movement. Now, we’ll explore the impacts these developments had on Burke’s personal life. We’ll also describe Burke’s thoughts on the viral hashtag inspired by her movement (MeToo) and her hopes for the “me too” movement going forward.

Burke Brought “me too” to Philadelphia—and Her Own Home

The betrayals and dead ends Burke met with in Selma irreparably fractured her ties to that community, so she decided to relocate to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, she got a job as a youth advocate and turned “me too” into a full-fledged program. Burke explains that this program consisted of four-step workshops designed to jumpstart the healing process for victims of childhood sexual abuse:

1. Burke would begin by sharing a famous survivor’s account of sexual violence. She used these accounts to provide definitions of various types of sexual violence.
2. Next, she’d reveal the survivor’s name, underlining the fact that many highly respected role models had suffered—and more importantly, recovered from—sexual violence.
3. Then, she’d invite girls to share whether these...

Shortform Exercise: Consider “me too,” MeToo, and You, Too

Take some time to reflect on what you’ve learned about Burke’s “me too” movement, compare it to the movement inspired by the MeToo hashtag, and consider your role in preventing or promoting healing from sexual violence.

Burke explains that she founded “me too” because she learned through experience that empathetic connection helps heal sexual violence. How does this resonate with your own experiences of suffering (sexual violence-related or otherwise)?