“A Window Can Also Be a Mirror”: Cultivating Two-Way Mirrors for Solidarity

Abstract: In this article, we conceptualize “two-way mirrors.” A two-way mirror provides both reflection and a lens into a different world. This metaphor extends Rudine Sims Bishop’s conceptualization of books as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. We share our coauthored children’s book, A Amiga Estadunidense da Abayomi ( Abayomi’s American Friend ), which is a two-way mirror for us. The story centers Black children from Brazil and the United States who teach each other about their histories. We share a graphic to visualize the two-way mirror. As an Afro-Brazilian woman and an African American woman, we also reflect on our transnational Black feminist solidarity as a relational two-way mirror. We contend that two-way mirrors can cultivate solidarity.