Hardell Ward

“Then I think of Norris, the dean, and how some things, some people, don’t want to just… stop. I think of what it might cost me to infiltrate the Order. To succeed in an institution founded by men who could have legally owned me, and wanted to.”
― Tracy Deonn, Legendborn

“Her back is torn open like a great cat has used her spine for a scratching post. Long stripes of split flesh crisscross from shoulder to hip, some thin as a razor, others open wide enough to reveal folds of tissue in pinks and reds that I’ve only seen at the butcher. The whip took skin and cloth, leaving both her body and dress in shreds. A human did this to another human. Some boy did this to Abby over some perceived slight. She ran for help and no one gave it to her. They handed her over to a boy who tore her body open and left her for dead. Fury builds in me like venom. A sharp, dangerous feeling I’ve never felt about someone I haven’t met. “Carr.” Patricia nods. “His monument is on the quad.” “His monument?” I turn to her, enraged that this monster is honored at Carolina or anywhere else. She sighs heavily. “Everything has two histories. Especially in the South.”
― Tracy Deonn, Legendborn

“When white people say something’s ‘not about race,’ it’s usually because it is and they don’t wanna talk about it.”
― Tracy Deonn, Bloodmarked

“I can’t tell how old she is, of course, because Black women are magical like that.”
― Tracy Deonn, Legendborn