This book tells the story of Assata Shakur formely known as Joann Byron. She is a revolutionay African'-American woman who fought with the Black Panther Party in the 1970's against systemic,enviormental,institutional,structual and indivisual racism. Shakur vulnerably takes her readers on a emotinal yet thought proviking ride about her life; starting with her childhood in New York and North Carolina leading into her becoming FBI's Most Wanted. Shakur's amazing story telling , sharp words, fearless nature and passion to fight for what's right makes this book a page turner.
Beloved: Beloved is a symbol for the 60 million + Africans who were lost in slavery whose stories and names we will never know.
Stillness Speaks is one of the most powerful books I've ever read. It's a very fast read, only about 87 pages and each page packs a punch. The pages are not even filled with words just thought provoking statements that bring readers calmness. If you are a person who happens to be interested in mindfullness, this is a great start.
Claudia is so excited to see her best friend Monday after returning home from summer break. Her and Monday have been inseparable since they were kids. However, when Claudia returns home and she doesn't receive a call from Monday and Monday doesn't show up to school on the first day, Claudia begins to worry. To make things even more weird Claudia keeps finding these encrypted messages left by Monday. Where is Monday? and why hasn't anyone else noticed she's missing? This book tells the story of a beautiful friendship between two young girls and the profound story of loss and confusion .
This book feels like a stream of Maya Angelou's subconscious. She tells stories about people , events and traumatic experiences that ultimately formed her into who she is. Angelou's fiery personality and ability to be honest and vulnerable makes this book a very fast read. Through out this entire book I felt as though i was reading Maya Angelou's journal with how free and raw this book was written.
The Sweetness of Water takes place after the civil war, during the reconstruction period of southern states. Prentiss and Landry are former slaves who were recently freed by the emancipation proclamation. When they find themselves in the Georgia woods trying to trap their next meal they run into George Walker a local who is emotionally numb and having marital issues. George decides to hire the two brothers to farm his lands in hopes of growing a peanut farm. However, the locals do not approve of George's decisions to hire two black men to farm his lands. Sweetness of water tells a story of humanity and humility .
Conjure women tells the story of Rue a young girl born into slavery to a conjure woman Miss May Belle. Since Rue's birth she has faced many challenges, heartbreak, despair and adversity. She is determined to make a life worth living not just based on survival. This type of change requires a lot of conjuring, sometimes a bit too much conjuring. I recommend this book to someone who enjoys a great historical fiction page turner.
Ford vulnerably takes readers on a emotional journey though her turbulent childhood. She explains the relationship dynamics she had with her abusive and confusing mother, incarcerated father and emotionally unavailable but wise grandmother. My favorite thing about this book is Ford's ability to transport readers back to their time of early adolescents, with her vivid memory and her constant attention on the development of child curiosity.
Nobody's Magic follows the life of three albino women who live in Louisiana as they maneuver their way through womanhood. Each woman has their own unique stories with hurdles revolving around identity, sexuality and authenticity. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story about womanhood but who can also overlook the huge role that men play in the each of characters walk into their truth.
This is a profound book that has changed my life for the better. Bell Hooks eloquently explains how not only has patriarchy terrorized women but, it has also corrupted our men mentally and emotionally. Hooks compassionately approaches heavy topics such as Men and their relationship with masculinity and love. She expresses concerns with how men are conditioned and offers up a solution. I recommend this book to everyone, anyone can learn from this book.
This stand-alone book in a 5 part series was an amazing read. It's an unorthodox romance novel that has glimmers of magical realism and weaves in some Greek mythology. This novel follows a woman who has a ring that can possibly grant the wearer the power to change three things about their partner in exchange for a huge sacrifice.
Bell Hooks has become one of my favorite authors over the last few years. In this novel Hooks speaks about our most powerful but underrated weapon, love. She explains the power of love and goes into detail on how love has the ability to heal and transform us all. Hooks ability to always come from a place a compassion when approaching issues in our society encourages change in the softest yet most powerful way. All About Love felt like a warm embrace from someone you love after a long day.
Self help books have become the new phenomenon with social media taking a more conscious turn. This is yet another self help book however, instead of it being this deep and philosophical book that follows the life of a noble man with a less than honorable occupation who learns to love his life after being envious of others. This book is straight forward and to the point it talks about self limiting thought patterns, the power of words and minimalism. I loved this book, it was a fast read and mind altering.
In this collection of essays Mikki Kendall examines black feminism and the exclusion of black women in the feminist movement. This book focuses heavily on intersectional feminism. Intersectional feminism is a complex subject that explains how discrimination is not a box that is one size fits all. There are people who belong to different marginalized identities that often overlap and intensify each other creating a distinctive experience of discrimination. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about intersectional feminism.
From the years 1963- 1965 journalist Alex Haley sat down with Malcolm X for a series of interviews, this collaboration created this amazing autobiography. The media has painted Malcolm X to be this extremely left, violent loud mouth who had a strong hate for white people. Once you read this autobiography you get a true sense of who Malcolm Little was. I really enjoyed this book! I appreciate how authentic Malcolm was when speaking about himself. Malcolm was far from perfect and he was very aware of that. I feel that is what made Malcolm who he was, his awareness of his shortcomings and drive to change the things he didn't like about himself and within the world. Reading this book you get a true understanding on who Malcolm was, what drove him and most importantly what made him who he was.
The 1619 project is a great research piece that focuses on slavery and how it has changed and affected society since the first ship arrived on British American soil in 1619. A lot of people have mistaken this book as a history book and its not. This book is more of a argument to make the reader reevaluate what they have been taught about the origin of the United States. I really enjoyed this book! Nikole Hannah-Jones did a great job at explaining the forgotten history of the US and also providing historical evidence to back each topic she spoke about.
