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

5.0

This author pieced together what she could from footnotes and other scant bits of information about these women. I was nervous at first since she mentioned in her foreword she was completing her doctorate. I thought that her language would maybe be really academic or hard to follow, but I was very much mistaken. She takes all the little pieces and weaves the heartbreaking stories of these three women beautifully in a way that most people would be able to understand. Every detail feeds into these stories in such a powerful way, including the quotes she has at the beginning of the chapters, the story of Leapers Hill in Grenada, the similarities with Mamie Till, etc. Bravo, Dr. Tubbs!

P.S. A prime example of how black women’s stories are often lost: I wanted to draw attention to the fact that most people have no idea that Alberta King (MLK Jr.‘s mother) was shot and killed in her church. I definitely didn’t know until this book.