History They Don't Want us To Know

Yecheilyah (E-see-li-yah), is an amazing independent author and poet who’s spent the last five years in the state of Georgia. Originally from Chicago, Yecheilyah grew up witnessing a lot in life at such a young age. Simultaneously, Yecheilyah always enjoyed a good read. Growing up black in just about any community in America is a struggle. But one thing about us is, we don’t dwell on those struggles, those struggles water us into becoming the strong and resilient individuals we are today. Yecheilyah continued to read, which then turned into writing. Writing is an expressive way for people to release a lot of what's going on internally. Many kids talk about wanting to become an astronaut, a teacher, president, Yecheilyah always knew she wanted to be a writer. Her journal entries varied from having a crush on somebody from school, graduation, milestones, really anything about her day. Yecheilyah has been writing poetry since she was 12 years old. Now has been a published author since 2010. In her youth, journaling was sharpening her writing skills, when she didn’t even know it. When you’re actively practicing something, you are constantly improving by nature.

In 2015 Yecheilyah started a series called, “Black History Fun Fact Fridays” which began in the month of February. But our history is longer than just one month. Resulting in, Yecheilyah posting black history facts and articles either every Friday or every other. This series is one of the

most popular segments she has on her page, thus far. Yecheilyah sharing black history facts has extended to her social media platform where she has over 2.5K followers.

But we don’t stop until we get enough, because Yecheilyah has been extended sharing her message through her books: I Am Soul a poetry book, The Women with Blue Eyes: Rise of the Fallen (Urban Fantasy), The Stella Trilogy (Historical Fiction), The Stella Trilogy (Historical Fiction), and the book to come, “Black History Facts You Didn’t Learn In School.” During November, national novel writing month, she utilized this time to get closer to completing her latest book. As a reader, writer, overall consumer of knowledge, it is crucial to block out time for her to get so many pages done. When you have so much to do, self-discipline, schedule blocking, prioritizing are all very important. Yecheilyah mentions, “We are our greatest work, nothing can work if we don’t.”

Yecheilyah is working on a book to be utilized for educational purposes. A tool that can be used for personal use, academia, and more. We underestimate the power of literature. Many of us don’t dig into black history until college. We didn’t see ourselves in history books to even become curious to learn more. This is the book to turn that experience around.

Something else Yecheilyah mentions is that “not everybody can have their boots on the

ground” and take part in all the activism and protest that are going on. Which is absolutely true. There are people who cannot walk the street with their fists in the air, there are people who have been marching so long they can walk no longer. But there are so many other ways to make an impact. Yecheilyah referenced a documentary on Hulu called Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. Toni Morrison was in the midst of things happening in the 60s, Morrison knew she couldn’t be out on the picket line. But she was helping people edit and publish books written about the history being made. Yecheilyah is working on restoring black historical truth. When it comes down to even fictional novels, Yecheilyah assures accurate black representation.

There are pockets in black history where black culture is pushed into the mainstream: a term during reconstruction after slavery, then you had when a lot of black people were trying to buy land, and establish communities and banks in the early 1900s. Years later, we had the early ‘20s during the renaissance movement when Black people were migrating from the south to the north and redefining our poetry and writing. Sometime later, during the '60s we

had the civil rights movement with the black power movement. Decades later in the '90s many black people were wearing Black power fists, wearing African prints, etc. Now from 2012 when Trayvon Martin was killed to now in 2022 we have another pocket of black power, black awareness, back excellence. Which makes it feel like a trend, rather than the consistency of black awareness. We need to do the work to keep it going through the years and generations.

Black excellence is not a trend and neither is mental health, healing therapy, nor self-love. Self-care has always been important. “I am not so concerned with becoming a better writer than I am becoming a better person.” It’s not about becoming a better poet, a better writer, a better actor, or whatever. It’s about becoming a better person to help you improve on the skill that you already have. It’s critical that we love ourselves, genuinely, rather than in an arrogant way. It’s important to love on ourselves in every aspect of life, not just in our success, but in our failures, in our learning stages, we have to remember to love ourselves as we are. In the mental health community, we are struggling but determined to separate trends from awareness. Where do we draw the line from what wasn’t important in the mainstream, and then something that is just hyped/heightened for the moment?

Though, we are our own biggest critic, allow people to be apart of the journey. People love to see the reality of things; the good, the bad, and the ugly. This can help those who feel like they are alone, when they are going through a similar situation: artistically, mentally, situationally, whatever it may be. When asking Yecheilyah who her biggest supporter is, she credited her husband & the Most High Yah. Though, those two men have been with her thorugh the beginning, the thick of it, and more, she also credits her viewers. Those who’s names and faces pop up more often than not. This includes when it comes to engaging with her content, her emails, a post, the website, and those who are always signing up for events, all these indivuals give her the push to continue the grind of what it takes to be an author, poet, and resource to others. Fred Hampton was someone who always talked about being for the people and having love for the people. You can’t help the people if don’t love the people. Yecheilyah is here for the people, and the people are here for her.

This is so much more on Yecheilyah Ysrayl, this incredible poet, author, our current black history teacher. To hear what else she has to say, has to enlighten us with you can find out from any of the links below. Independent Author | Poet | Book Blogger | Publisher Yecheilyah Books LLC Web. www.yecheilyahysrayl.com Blog | www.thepbsblog.com |

Email | yecheilyah@yecheilyahysrayl.com |

Facebook: yecheilyahbooks

Twitter: @yecheilyah

Instagram: @yecheilyah