BrownGirl Speaks

The Joys of Motherhood tells the story of Nnu Ego born in a village in colonial Nigeria to a note Ibo chief and his mistress. Her mother was not allowed to marry as her father felt she should not "stoop to any man" but could have a lover. Nnu Ego would eventually be raised solely by her father and he would raise her to be just as independent and stubborn as her mother. However, the pressure to become a mother, especially of sons, was prevalent in her tribe as it was supposed to proved a woman's worth.

A failed first marriage because she did not bear any children leads to a second with a man she does not like or respect because of his looks and his occupation. It does eventually yield many children to whom Nnu Ego selflessly devotes her life. Her selflessness is supposed to reap her the joys of motherhood.  A mother can give and give until her life ends in a most despicable way and her children may never bestow her with the things she may have given up or simply support her in old age. Once into the meat of the story, it becomes evident that joy is also supposed to come simply from the act of giving to her children. Even this is troublesome as she often had very little to give them. Often what she had to give went to her eldest son to further his education much to the frustration and anger of the second son and their father. Nnu Ego's struggle are compounded by her conflict with maintaining a traditional role which includes being a financial contributor and the modern role in this urban setting that calls for her to just focus on being a mother.

I'm an instant fan of Buchi Emecheta. Her writing is so vivid and crisp. Perhaps I'm biased being a mother and this is my first impression of her writing, but I feel she nailed it. The joys of motherhood are something that don't just necessarily manifest as tangible or, even, emotional rewards. They are just random moments and, sometimes, the good doesn't outweigh the bad. But once you're a mother you have to just surrender to it and come what may. For Nnu Ego, her joy came from the superficial outlook others had on her as a mother of seven and their individual success. Emecheta's use of chi, or personal spirit, and a number of other cultural references often relating to spirituality and death make this a very enriching read. The constant presence of death- be it that of a newborn, and old chief, or an attempted suicide- adds a profundity to this book on motherhood.

I also own and hope to read Emecheta's novel, Slave Girl, in the near future.

Challenges:
Women Unbound
Reading Africa
POC Reading
African Diaspora

Buchi Emecheta is a well-noted Nigerian born novelist whose writing often has feminist themes. Her novels include The Joys of Motherhood, Slave Girl, and Second Class Citizen.

First published in 1924, There Is Confusion was the first novel for poet and The Crisis editor Jessie Redmon Fauset. The novel examines the lives of some Black middle class (Fauset's specialty) residents of New York and Philadelphia trying to navigate the inevitable confusion present in their lives due to race and/ or gender. Fauset is not known for very colorful writing, which hasn't stopped me from being a fan of her work, but her stories are presented in a realistic fashion. Her characters are believable as they are flawed in various degrees. For example, Joanna Marshall is an average looking Black woman of some means thanks to her father's hardcore desire for success. The same tenacity was inherent in Joanna and somewhat to a fault. Joanna believes that not only should she be aiming for mega-success but also all Black people should be just as driven. Her life is consumed by it so much so that she believes success is more important than love and finds out the hard way that she may have been wrong. However, it's very important that Fauset wrote this female character as outside the box when it comes to goals and self reliance unlike her counterpart Maggie. Maggie's goal in life is typical for a woman of any color during the time: marriage. The real flaw with Maggie, though, is that she only partially realizes her abilities to be successful without depending on a man for financial security. Meanwhile, the major male character, Peter, struggles the most with simply wanting to be ambitious or just accepting the confusion that color brings and settling for mediocrity. He comes from a long line of "old Philadelphians" but now only their name survives their socioeconomic status as his father lost the sense of ambition held by his forefathers becoming shiftless and losing most of the family's material possessions. I found this novel very enjoyable and a good piece of social commentary on the state of the Northern middle class Black American of the 1920's.

Challenges:
African Diaspora
POC Reading

Thanks to the Classics Circuit for hosting this tour featuring the prolific works of the Harlem Renaissance.

Page From a Tennessee Journal is the first novel from former Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Francine Thomas Howard. This is one of the first of previously self-published books being relaunched by the AmazonEncore program. I think it's a very fitting choice. Howard brings us into the lives of the white farm owning couple of Alexander and Eula McNaughton and the Black sharecropping family of John and Annalaura Welles. Set in rural east Tennessee in 1913, the story of these four people as individuals and as couples unfolds.

Alexander and John are both in love with the same woman yet neither knows how to appropriately show their affection without leaving her hurt emotionally and physically. And for one the love is forbidden which is the major source of conflict in this novel. The author's depiction of the lives of sharecroppers would make a good argument of why this practice was as detrimental to Blacks as, if not actually worse than, slavery. The squalid living conditions and unfair arrangements for payments and advances against labor were deplorable. Another social issue tackled is the marginalization of women. The status of the rural Southern woman was very bleak for both Blacks and whites. They both dealt with philandering husbands which was acceptable amongst their social class and being silenced. This was not news to me however, Howard's portrayal was like re-opening a wound and I was angered so much when this matter was brought up. John Welles angered me most with his self-righteous attitude even after he left his wife and children with nothing to seek his fortune. These women had to endure everything thrown at them while keeping up the dutiful, loyal wife routine without so much as an eye roll.  Eula does get her opportunity to use her voice in her journal even if it is only for herself. Annalaura even gets a bit of poetic justice in the end when she gets to make a life changing decision on her terms.

Reading this in two sittings, Howard's writing was well paced and never really hit any lulls. She has written great nuanced characters and the story felt like she was comfortable in the narrative as it's not forced. And I always applaud those who bravely take on whorehouses and Southern dialect without it all coming off as trite. Though it's hard for me to digest tales involving the disparaging treatment of women, it was worth it and deserves every accolade it has coming. Yes, I'm being prophetic. I do hope to see this also become part of the scholarly canon of fiction on women's studies. I highly recommend this entertaining and poignant debut novel.

I received a copy of this book from the author.

Schuyler's 1931 satirical novel, Black No More, tells the story of Black insurance man Max Disher who undergoes a procedure that makes him the permanently white Matthew Fisher. This novel explores how race is a social construct that can be altered and manipulated by those with power to suit their needs.

From the commentary on the often caricatured features of Black folks being inaccurate and how dialect is regional not racial to the scathing criticism of such Black luminaries as W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP, George Schuyler wrote a brilliant and poignant piece that is unflinching in its attack on the idea of race. I found myself laughing out loud through most of the book especially at his satirization of Dr. DuBois as Dr. Shakespeare Agamemnon Beard and completely ripped his intentions as a "Race Man". The name alone is golden! Max, now Matthew, goes on to infiltrate a white supremacist group and marry a white woman he fell for while still a Black man. Everything about American society is turned upside-down as droves of Blacks flock to Dr. Crookman's sanitariums to experience "chromatic emancipation". It doesn't take long for the true whites to become frantic about issues such as Black babies born to seemingly all white pairings and for the Blacks who've "crossed over" to realize that white might not be right.

George Schuyler was a conservative Black author and journalist. He was also a big proponent of miscegenation as a means to eradicate the race problem in the U.S. He and his white wife were the parents of child prodigy and pianist Phillipa Schuyler.

Challenges:
African Diaspora
POC Reading

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a book signing taking place at one of my local bookstores and the author was a native of the city. When I read the description of her debut novel, I knew I'd attend and have to read the book.

Wench is a story of historical fiction set in the mid-1800's mostly in Ohio at Tawawa House, a summer resort popular among Southern white men for getaways with their enslaved Black mistresses. First, to learn the existence of such a place caught me by surprise. This is one piece of slavery's history I don't think I expected to ever learn about. The four women who inhabit Perkins-Valdez's debut novel are all very different and pretty well developed. Sweet's name is befitting her mostly soft disposition. Reenie is deemed the wise elder among the ladies, yet she's terrified of water. Lizzie seems to be the most complacent and comfortable with her relationship with her master, Drayle. Mawu is the newest mistress and comes in as intriguing with her African name and non-Christian beliefs. It doesn't take long for Mawu to instigate the idea of the ladies escaping to freedom.

At about a quarter into the book, we get some back story on the development of the relationship between Lizzie and Drayle on their Tennessee plantation. This is an important section as it reveals the complexities of Lizzie's feelings towards her master and how those feelings cause a tug-of-war for her when it comes to the idea of her being a free woman. Perkins-Valdez does a very nice job of incorporating this portion without it disrupting the story's flow and seeming unnecessary. The dynamics of Lizzie relationship with her children and Drayle's wife, Fran, are also revealed. It's Lizzie's role as a mother/ child-bearer, and that of the other women, that is almost paramount to their feelings toward seeking freedom. The last summer that all of the women are together at Tawawa House brings a number of tragedies that catapult them into various directions away from each other, but not in spirit.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez writes very clean and, sometimes, lyrical prose. Her characterizations are not as fully realized as I would have liked for other characters besides Lizzie, but ultimately this is Lizzie's story. I did, however, feel invested in these four women.  Though, I've not done any research on Tawawa House, I'm confident the essence of the setting have captured beautifully. Wench is an exciting debut as it's filled a widely unknown void in the history of American slavery and I'm looking forward to Dolen Perkins-Valdez's future writings.

Challenges:
African Diaspora
POC Reading

For those unaware, I started a web ring of sorts several months ago for those who blog about POC books. After starting this book blog, I found myself frustrated in my search for more book bloggers of color or those that read books by people of color in a significant quantity. I found one or two so sporadically that I decided to create something that would  easily identify those who fit the description. A button would do it! To take it a step further, I figured I'd link it to a page that housed links to everyone "wearing the badge". My hopes were that other newbies wouldn't have to dig so deep to find kindred reading spirits to follow and get book recommendations.

Now, in the wake of the issue of whitewashing and other issues in publishing regarding POC books, I see the IRIC web ring as something a bit bigger. It's another tool that will hopefully invoke change. It's a very simple statement, I Read In Color, but a strong one. With many "voices" behind it, IRIC should send a clear message to publishers.

So, join us here and below the form is the button. Be sure to use the html provided as it's important to have the button link back to that page so that all the member blogs are discovered.

Up From Slavery is Washington's autobiography chronicling his life from his childhood spent in slavery in Virginia to his being the famed orator and driving force of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Unsure of the year of his birth, Washington always had a strong desire to improve his life through education. He struggled to put himself through Hampton Institute where he cultivated a stern belief in hygiene, agriculture, and trade skills.   Booker T. Washington's brilliance is easily displayed in his idea that the institution of slavery harmed both slaves and slave owners' families. Labor was forced upon one group while the other had little to no training in trades altogether and that lack of self sufficiency became most evident during Reconstruction. This also fueled his desire to have the students of Tuskegee educated in agriculture and trades like brick making with as much emphasis as traditional school subjects. This was so much a focus that the first students, literally, helped to build the school brick by brick. This was also due to very little funding which eventually changed once much wealthier admirers took notice of Washington's work with southern Blacks. He was an unshaken, organized, and disciplined man who wholeheartedly believed in each person's need to be competent in some trade and be the best one could possibly at it. Today, as we try to climb out of this economic depression and see our fellow man and woman in dire need in Haiti, we can still take heed to his words of wisdom delivered in his famous Atlanta Exposition Address: Cast down your buckets where you are. Do what you can- with full effort - with what and who you have around you.

Challenges:
African Diaspora
Black Classics
POC Reading

After consulting random.org, Nina Forsythe has been selected the winner of an autographed copy of Silvio Sirias' novel Meet Me Under the Ceiba. Nina will hopefully respond within 48 hours. After that time, a new winner will be chosen. Congratulations Nina!

And thanks to Silvio Sirias for a writing a great book exposing me to Nicaragua and to Bronzeword Latino Virtual Book Tours.

Religious freedom should be about people freely practicing the spiritual belief of their choice or none at all without persecution and without detriment to others. Just as those who are harmed or even killed because of their faith are not free in their religion, those who do the harming and killing in the name of some belief are not free in theirs. Those with religious freedom will be able to nurture their spirituality without concern of being harmed or the need to harm others who don't believe what they believe. I assume for the intents and purposes of the challenge, religion is being used interchangeably with faith. Normally, I differentiate as religion is more organizational and faith is individualized. Having said that, religion/faith should be and is a personal decision. There's no place for it in government which is what often leads to the issue of religious persecution. When this life is over, it'll be between you and God...if that's what you believe.