A review by ehmannky
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

Even if this book had done nothing else, it has taught me the names of Alberta King, Louise Little, and Birdis Baldwin. I can honestly say that even though I knew that Alberta was killed and that Louise had been forcible institutionalized, I hadn't really registered these events on their own terms. Tubbs brings them front and center, as they were in their own families and lives, and gives their accomplishments and feelings time to breathe and be praised the way that their sons' were. It's a lovely and heartbreaking and inspiring read. 

The biography of three women in a relatively short book seems like it would be too much, but I think Tubbs does an excellent job with making do with what little historical sources that she had. It's as comprehensive as it could have been, and she ties the lives of these three incredibly different women rather well by dividing the book into broad themes of motherhood.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Sexism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Homophobia, Slavery, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault