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Very interesting content, but it feels like disconnected essays were put together for the book.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I very much appreciated the content. Unfortunately I found the writing to not be the formal style of nonfiction work that I was expecting.
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This was an AAABDG (Book Club) selection for discussion in June 2024. I read a physical copy of the book, however, I read the ebook (via Everand) while I listen in audio (via BARD) read by the author, Anna Malaika Tubbs who gives a fascinating, revealing and truth and tells it brilliantly. I revered how the author compartmentalized in each part of the book from birth to death, and to greatness through the relationships between the mothers and sons and how they each survived in a society that would deny their humanity from the very beginning. Alberta, Louise and Berdis symbolized Christian faith, education, being unafraid, finding love and joy. They defied stereotypes, and typical gender roles.
Tubbs wrote that all of these women could have several books written about their lives, just as their sons have. Tubbs says in her book “Black women have faced a denial of their worth based on both their race and their gender.” and we as the black race, need to always be polished and well-spoken in order to combat demeaning representations of our people and to earn the respect we deserve. Tubbs documented that Blackbelt soldiers returning from World War I at the end of 1918, were met with increased violence rather than the relief they were promised upon enlisting. Thousands were assaulted, threatened, abused, or lynched following military service.
As illustrated in the book, Tubbs quotes a speech by US president Roosevelt in 1906 which speaks to the declining birth rates among white women and urges them to keep up with the birth rate of minorities so as to avoid “race suicide.” This fear has been reintroduced in 2020s as the U.S. has reversed our reproductive rights and contraception laws to prevent pregnant women in terminating their pregnancy for the same fears in the 1900s. As the Hispanic population grows and surpasses the white population. These facts caused extreme worry for many white supremacists who feared what might happen if minorities, especially those they had enslaved for hundreds of years, were ever to become the majority. The evidence of Roe v Wade overturned in the 2020s confirms the new strategies being implemented as in the past under the theory that some whites feared that Black people would someday outnumber them and take control of the country. Other arguments stemmed from fears of Black people taking jobs and resources from their white counterparts or racist and antiquated beliefs that Black people were less than human and did not deserve equal treatment.
Many of the differences within the three mothers were dictated by varying levels of privilege, in both economic and social capital. But, all three men also had similarities David Baldwin, Michael King, and Earl Little were born in the Deep South, each witnessed racial violence firsthand in their early lives. They were not granted opportunities for further education as their wives. They each had dreams for better and they turned to God as preachers, but each of them had a hard time controlling their anger, and sought control of their lives elsewhere. Their differences were dictated by their birth families, the women they married and their families, their interactions with their husbands and reactions to their circumstances tell the story of how extraordinary these women were. As Tubbs noted, Black women have been subject to the many abuses of white supremacy, seen most clearly in their relationship to motherhood. Slavery relied on Black procreation, and was determined by the needs of slave masters/plantation owners, rendering slaves to sexual violence, therefore Black women had no rights over their own bodies or their offspring.
The law that kept married women from teaching which called for the termination of a woman’s employment after she married and even extended to some widowed women with children, until 1964 until the passing of the Civil Rights Act, that was in place simply to restrict middle-class, educated women. This was a historical fact that I was unaware.Another unknown fact for me was Alberta King leading the Ebenezer choir that was so famous, they were selected to perform at events around the country including the premiere of the film Gone with the Wind which took place on December 15, 1939 at the Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta. Another unknown fact to me after reading this book is Lula Mae Hardaway, was a songwriter and mother of musical genius 'Stevie Wonder. She co-wrote many of Stevie's songs during the early years of his career. She was co-nominated for the 1970 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for co-writing 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered. This is exemplified in the quote from Malcolm X about a mother’s lessons are the ones that will determine the trajectory of the child’s life and that child’s contributions to the world is profound.
The descendants of Alberta and Martin Luthier King Sr., carried the family legacy of promoting peace and social justice with Christian faith to the world through their teachings, work and guidance in various ways beyond their death. Louise Little’s belief that being institutionalized was a form of incarceration and state punishment for who she was, free, single and an immigrant, and yet she taught her children because they were black, they were not inferior to anybody else. However, Little spent her final years with her daughter in Central Michigan Woodland Park, a historically Black community in the 1960s, where her daughter, Yvonne Woodward brought land, established a community grocery store, and built a public park in the center of town.
As I watch the news of our upcoming presidential election and see Kamala Harris, a wife, stepmother, and a former prosecutor and a candidate for the presidency, and who has a voice, and a honorable goal for the country. Since her announcement to run, the trail of comments and threats she must deal with no matter what position of power she has obtained has been insurmountable. women of color expected nothing less from the attacks from Donald Trump and his allies. In agreement with the author, that keeping Black people from advancing by restricting their ability to become educated has long been a strategy of oppression, and to this present day has always been in place. We as blacks hoped for greater prosperity in the north and faced with the decision to stay or go, to stay and fight or believe that things could be better somewhere else. I think of the three mothers, and the future now that will usher in the change if she is elected. She will be part of the celebration of diversity and Black womanhood.
Tubbs wrote that all of these women could have several books written about their lives, just as their sons have. Tubbs says in her book “Black women have faced a denial of their worth based on both their race and their gender.” and we as the black race, need to always be polished and well-spoken in order to combat demeaning representations of our people and to earn the respect we deserve. Tubbs documented that Blackbelt soldiers returning from World War I at the end of 1918, were met with increased violence rather than the relief they were promised upon enlisting. Thousands were assaulted, threatened, abused, or lynched following military service.
As illustrated in the book, Tubbs quotes a speech by US president Roosevelt in 1906 which speaks to the declining birth rates among white women and urges them to keep up with the birth rate of minorities so as to avoid “race suicide.” This fear has been reintroduced in 2020s as the U.S. has reversed our reproductive rights and contraception laws to prevent pregnant women in terminating their pregnancy for the same fears in the 1900s. As the Hispanic population grows and surpasses the white population. These facts caused extreme worry for many white supremacists who feared what might happen if minorities, especially those they had enslaved for hundreds of years, were ever to become the majority. The evidence of Roe v Wade overturned in the 2020s confirms the new strategies being implemented as in the past under the theory that some whites feared that Black people would someday outnumber them and take control of the country. Other arguments stemmed from fears of Black people taking jobs and resources from their white counterparts or racist and antiquated beliefs that Black people were less than human and did not deserve equal treatment.
Many of the differences within the three mothers were dictated by varying levels of privilege, in both economic and social capital. But, all three men also had similarities David Baldwin, Michael King, and Earl Little were born in the Deep South, each witnessed racial violence firsthand in their early lives. They were not granted opportunities for further education as their wives. They each had dreams for better and they turned to God as preachers, but each of them had a hard time controlling their anger, and sought control of their lives elsewhere. Their differences were dictated by their birth families, the women they married and their families, their interactions with their husbands and reactions to their circumstances tell the story of how extraordinary these women were. As Tubbs noted, Black women have been subject to the many abuses of white supremacy, seen most clearly in their relationship to motherhood. Slavery relied on Black procreation, and was determined by the needs of slave masters/plantation owners, rendering slaves to sexual violence, therefore Black women had no rights over their own bodies or their offspring.
The law that kept married women from teaching which called for the termination of a woman’s employment after she married and even extended to some widowed women with children, until 1964 until the passing of the Civil Rights Act, that was in place simply to restrict middle-class, educated women. This was a historical fact that I was unaware.Another unknown fact for me was Alberta King leading the Ebenezer choir that was so famous, they were selected to perform at events around the country including the premiere of the film Gone with the Wind which took place on December 15, 1939 at the Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta. Another unknown fact to me after reading this book is Lula Mae Hardaway, was a songwriter and mother of musical genius 'Stevie Wonder. She co-wrote many of Stevie's songs during the early years of his career. She was co-nominated for the 1970 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for co-writing 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered. This is exemplified in the quote from Malcolm X about a mother’s lessons are the ones that will determine the trajectory of the child’s life and that child’s contributions to the world is profound.
The descendants of Alberta and Martin Luthier King Sr., carried the family legacy of promoting peace and social justice with Christian faith to the world through their teachings, work and guidance in various ways beyond their death. Louise Little’s belief that being institutionalized was a form of incarceration and state punishment for who she was, free, single and an immigrant, and yet she taught her children because they were black, they were not inferior to anybody else. However, Little spent her final years with her daughter in Central Michigan Woodland Park, a historically Black community in the 1960s, where her daughter, Yvonne Woodward brought land, established a community grocery store, and built a public park in the center of town.
As I watch the news of our upcoming presidential election and see Kamala Harris, a wife, stepmother, and a former prosecutor and a candidate for the presidency, and who has a voice, and a honorable goal for the country. Since her announcement to run, the trail of comments and threats she must deal with no matter what position of power she has obtained has been insurmountable. women of color expected nothing less from the attacks from Donald Trump and his allies. In agreement with the author, that keeping Black people from advancing by restricting their ability to become educated has long been a strategy of oppression, and to this present day has always been in place. We as blacks hoped for greater prosperity in the north and faced with the decision to stay or go, to stay and fight or believe that things could be better somewhere else. I think of the three mothers, and the future now that will usher in the change if she is elected. She will be part of the celebration of diversity and Black womanhood.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
dark
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
I read some of it, but mostly listened via audiobook.
This is a non-fiction book focusing primarily on the mothers of three famous Black leaders in America, and how those women shaped their son's lives and supported them. It also talks in general about Black motherhood, and the lack of support and respect Black women and Black mothers get.
There was a lot of good and valuable information in this book. However, I often found it hard to follow, and the way it jumped from person to person was confusing at times, especially because I was listening to the audio and there were no markers to tell me we were switching family stories. The various timelines and family histories are all intermingled.
The author does take a very storytelling type approach in a lot of it, but is careful to specify when something is unknown, as not all of the mothers histories are well documented. It does go through the deaths of each of their sons, through the end of their lives as well. It got especially rambly toward the end, IMO.
I am glad I read (listened) to it, because I learned new things I didn't know before. If I did it over again, I would have stuck with reading words instead of listening, I think I would have gotten more out of it in that case.
This is a non-fiction book focusing primarily on the mothers of three famous Black leaders in America, and how those women shaped their son's lives and supported them. It also talks in general about Black motherhood, and the lack of support and respect Black women and Black mothers get.
There was a lot of good and valuable information in this book. However, I often found it hard to follow, and the way it jumped from person to person was confusing at times, especially because I was listening to the audio and there were no markers to tell me we were switching family stories. The various timelines and family histories are all intermingled.
The author does take a very storytelling type approach in a lot of it, but is careful to specify when something is unknown, as not all of the mothers histories are well documented. It does go through the deaths of each of their sons, through the end of their lives as well. It got especially rambly toward the end, IMO.
I am glad I read (listened) to it, because I learned new things I didn't know before. If I did it over again, I would have stuck with reading words instead of listening, I think I would have gotten more out of it in that case.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced