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As a white woman I don't think it is my place to review this book, but only to listen and learn from it.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
While the text can feel incomplete or heavily narrativized at times, it nonetheless presents welcome perspectives that otherwise have not had a chance to be heard.
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
A gorgeous, illuminating and shattering book about Berdis, Alberta and Louise, the mothers of James Baldwin, MLK Jr, and Malcolm X respectively. The personal voice of Tubbs woven through enhances her research and presentation of the three women’s stories, interwoven to great effect, rather than parsed apart into silos. The Three Mothers will teach you things you should know and will wonder why you don’t, for example, that Martin’s brother died mysteriously 15 months after Martin’s murder and that mother was gunned down in her husband’s church not long after, while playing her beloved piano for the congregation. It will also make you appreciate deeply the ways these mothers impacted and indeed powerfully shaped the lives of their children and the men they became, and it will also make you wonder how much more we would all know if we were taught about the mothers of the famous men history had lionized and/or demonized.
3.5 rounded up. I had trouble getting into the deification of motherhood. The perspective of the author is that black women have been continuously marginalized and forgotten, due in large part to structural racism, sexism, and the intersection between the two. I cannot argue with that.
However, I felt like what I learned about the women was not substantially more than I had learned about them from their own son’s written works. While the mission was well intended, I don’t know that I feel that this book fulfilled it. A good chunk of the book was spent summarizing history, as opposed to unveiling it.
However, I felt like what I learned about the women was not substantially more than I had learned about them from their own son’s written works. While the mission was well intended, I don’t know that I feel that this book fulfilled it. A good chunk of the book was spent summarizing history, as opposed to unveiling it.
I listened to the author, Anna Malaika Tubbs, read the audiobook version which was quite special. This is a sweeping history of the three women with gave birth to some of the most influential people during the civil rights era: Louise Little, mother of Malcolm X, Bernice Baldwin, mother of James Baldwin, and Alfreda King, the mother of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The beginning reads a bit like the 1619 project when she describes how these women can into the world and how things worked then. A lot has changed thankfully and I thought that was one of the more powerful aspects of the triple biography: by telling 100+ years of history through the lives of these three incredible black women, you see connections and why the author chose to illustrate what still needs to change today to overcome the barriers these mothers faced. I learned more about each of the lives of these greats and it was a good reminder that all too often the person who made the icon or celebrity was born by someone, likelier nicer. I also learned how much their mothers and their lived experience impacted their approach to the movement for Black lives and their words. Tubbs crafted an excellent triple-biography and I’d highly recommend it.
Unfortunately, this book was incredibly underwhelming and has major issues:
1. There isn’t enough evidence from primary sources to dedicate an entire book to these mothers. To compensate, the author made a lot of assumptions and filled gaps with flowery prose. The Author’s Note admits that she struggled to find much information.
2. The author would add little blurbs about history that were wholly unrelated to the little biographical information she had about the mothers. It was incredibly distracting and contained nothing novel about Black history. Again, she had to resort to this because of the lack of evidence that exists.
3. As stated above, I felt that the prose imputed too many thoughts and feelings onto the mothers. I picked this book up to read non-fiction. If I wanted to read historical fiction, I would have turned to another book.
4. The conclusion read like the book the author actually wants to write. She crammed so many ideas in at the end, when I was just relieved this reading experience was over.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3. Do not read.
1. There isn’t enough evidence from primary sources to dedicate an entire book to these mothers. To compensate, the author made a lot of assumptions and filled gaps with flowery prose. The Author’s Note admits that she struggled to find much information.
2. The author would add little blurbs about history that were wholly unrelated to the little biographical information she had about the mothers. It was incredibly distracting and contained nothing novel about Black history. Again, she had to resort to this because of the lack of evidence that exists.
3. As stated above, I felt that the prose imputed too many thoughts and feelings onto the mothers. I picked this book up to read non-fiction. If I wanted to read historical fiction, I would have turned to another book.
4. The conclusion read like the book the author actually wants to write. She crammed so many ideas in at the end, when I was just relieved this reading experience was over.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3. Do not read.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This was a wonderful intro into 3 women I’d love to know more about!
The subject matter itself is amazing, and the research excellent. The writing, however, reminded me of a college thesis. The author still got her points across. I think it might read better than it worked as an audiobook.
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This was excellent. I loved the author's ability to mix the details of these three women's lives with the broader social and political context of their lives. I learned so much about all of these women and felt so connected to them that by the end, I was even crying about things I've known about for years. Thinking about these mothers guiding their sons to become so influential and world changing and then having to experience the pain of losing them early. I KNEW these things to be true and horrible, but I never knew them so intimately. I don't typically pick up biographies, but this one is 100% worth the listen. It's also narrated by the author, which I loved, especially since the beginning and ending feel so personal to her own experience of being a black mother.