WATCH: Danai Gurira on Empowering Women of Color in Storytelling

By Sameer Rao Feb 22, 2016

"If you are constantly dealing with stories that are not of the people that you are from—not from where you’re from, not from your heritage—that can function at a disadvantage," Danai Gurira says in a new video.

The Zimbabwean-American actress and playwright—who famously plays the katana-wielding "Michonne" on AMC’s "The Walking Dead"—appears in a new PBS NewsHour video. In it, she discusses her development as a storyteller and the importance of empowering women of color to tell their own stories. 

"My hypothesis is: people in the West can absorb African women’s stories without any shaken or stirred mixer," she explains. "It can come directly from the source." 

Gurira’s new play, "Eclipsed," begins previews on Broadway tomorrow (February 23). The play stars Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and examines the plight of women taken into sex slavery in war-torn Liberia.

Check out the video below and get your life on this Monday.

"The stories about Africans always somehow miraculously had a western protagonist, and I was like 'wow.' Do we not merit our own ability to tell our own stories?"Watch Danai Gurira, Eclipsed on Broadway playwright and star of The Walking Dead, give her #BriefButSpectacular take on creating complex stories for unheard voices.

Posted by PBS NewsHour on Thursday, February 18, 2016