by Linda Pate
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors. A woman’s heart and unconditional love keep the world turning and bring joy to those closest to her. In their lives, young and older women will experience love, loss and sisterhood. As I searched for great reads that would touch on all of these experiences, I found two great books.
Go Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady (Excelsior Editions $17.95) is a wonderful collection of letters and poetry written to our First Lady, Michelle Obama, by women of all ages and walks of life. Women from around the world share their expression of love and hope to the First Lady and her husband President Obama. The compassion of each letter written is touching. You will feel the encouragement, pain, fear and hopes of women as you read each letter included in this project. Author’s Barbara A. Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram have put together this wonderful project. This book demonstrates true sisterhood.
Adam’s Belle A Memoir of Love Without Bounds (DBM Press, LC $27.95) by Joyce Burnett hares the life of Isabel Powell, who went from a show girl to the wife of the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. This story allows you to learn about the world of entertainment and the civil rights movement. Her life married to Adam Clayton Powell seemed to be a rollercoaster. This is a wonderful book, especially for history lovers.
Would you like for us to feature your book club in this column? Please send us your contact information and be featured in our next book club column. Email lpate@preciousmemoriesreading.com and tell us what’s on your bookshelf.
Linda Pate is the owner of Precious Memories Bookstore, located at 3229 Idlewood Ave. Visit www.preciousmemoriesreading.com or the blog, www.roomsofconversation.blogspot.com.
Bill
March 25, 2009
Adam’s Belle: A Memoir of Love Without Bounds is a wonderful love story and an important addition to African-American history. It has 200 pages and over 39 never before published historic photographs. The unmistakable voice of the Belle leaps off the pages in this first-person narrative of this exciting book. It begins in the early stages of Belle’s life in Savannah, Ga. in the early 1900s; her time as a dancer at the Cotton Club and on Broadway during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s; and the period where she gives up her life’s ambition and first love — the theatre and dance — to become the First Lady of Abyssinian Baptist Church and “Queen of Harlem” during the 1930s and 1940s.
Joyce Burnett spent 10 years working with Isabel Washington Powell to complete this wonderful book. During those many meetings, she became fascinated with the life of Belle, who was center stage during the 1920s, making entertainment history with the notables of the day at a time when African Americans could not enter the Cotton Club as patrons to enjoy her immense talents.
This is the perfect book for book clubs interested in the early Civil Rights movement or the Harlem Renaissance. Much of the story about Adam Clayton Powell, Jr and his early Civil Rights work in Harlem is not well known or has been forgotten by history. This great book has also been nominated for several major book awards.
Dee
March 28, 2009
Just discovered this great book. Thanks for covering it. Also, just found out the publisher DBM Press is offering a special discount for Family, Church Group, and Book Club orders. There is a link for these groups on their site (dbmpress dot com).
Andrew
February 9, 2012
savry / July 31, 2009 Thanks for this ifiromatnon good tip