I finished the book this week, and from time to ti...

2009-08-07T05:55:52.862-07:00

I finished the book this week, and from time to time found myself tearing up. Both out of joy in the celebration of sister power, and the pain of the struggles that brought us there.

Thank you Duchess for this book. It gives voice to our perserverance and whispers the hope embedded in our dreams. All of these women made great sacrifice hearing the call to service and greatness. They were exceptional in times where exception and excellence was less valued than glitz and acceptance.

The book has certainly given me pause to better understand their contributions and achievement in the context of political machinations that might have gobbled up lesser women.

But even better than that, you have given us the meat of their stories. A story that we might have allowed to sit in shallow waters, rather than the vast ocean in which you allow us to join them.

The book corrects a long-standing misunderstanding that some of these voices had been silent. After reading your narratives, I now understand that their victories lies in a retreat of time where peaceful, more concise and strategic achievement was taking place.

Thank you. On the night of Kwanzaa when our family celebrates Women, this book will be the gift that I will present to honor our womanhood and feminist legacy.

I totally agree, black women have been attacked by...

2009-08-05T16:02:27.825-07:00

I totally agree, black women have been attacked by these labels, as a mechanisim to recapture the control over our fertility and reproductive capacity that was lost after slavery. When our children stopped being a source of capital/assets, then they became liabilities both economically and metaphorically. I think our task as writers is to both understand this, but also be able to communicate it in a way where the "average Joe" can understand where we are coming from...that is the hard part.

Comments on Sister Scholar: Sister Regina Benjamin and Sister Joycelyn Elders

I finished the book this week, and from time to ti...

I totally agree, black women have been attacked by...