Black History Month is a time to celebrate black and diverse voices!

Dear reader, settle in! Because this post is a three-fer with two bonus books!

Post-Covid, and the turbulent culture wars that marked those years and still reign on, I vowed to be better about exploring more diverse authors. So this February, in a nod to Black History Month, I set out to read black authors specifically and learn more about the black experience in an effort to be more aware of what others' experiences have been and more understanding about our country's complete missteps in recognizing all of its citizens. I chose to also go the non-fiction route for a couple of books as well because I was doing a lot of fiction and needed something a bit more to chew on and engage my mind in a different way.

Book 1: A Mercy, Toni Morrison, 2008

Vintage International/Penguin House, 196 pages I began with A Mercy by Toni Morrison, an absolutely exquisite author. I read Beloved in high school but really was not appreciative of her complete genius at that point in my life. Reading Morrison as an adult was a completely different experience. Morrison, in this novel, in less than 200 pages, blew me away. Taking place in Colonial New York (#2024BookChallenge - New York), I knew that as I was reading this incredible tale that I was missing key elements that make this as much, if not more, of a celebrated piece as her more famous story. I longed for my AP English teacher to guide me with all of elements within and I will definitely be rereading to fully absorb all it has to offer. The Plot: A white man, Jacob Vaark, visits Catholic Maryland to collect debts made in trade with the local rich slaveowner who is, along with his whole family, gross, greedy, and horrible. Vaark, with his own sad upcoming, agrees to take a young slave, Florens, as payment and cannot shake the dirty feeling that follows after, even though the mother of the girl pushed her forward to go as payment instead of herself. This action burdens Florens as she struggles to ever understand why her mother would not want her with her. We meet Lina, Rebekka, and Sorrow upon his return but quickly learn of Vaark's fall from smallpox. What is to befall this farm without him to assert his legal ownership? The question looms as each character takes a turn giving their side of the story, an awesome feature. As a result, we readers are the only ones privileged enough to learn the entire story, from all sides, to understand the mysteries that plague Florens about her mother's reasoning to abandon her, that plague Lina and Rebekka concerning Sorrow, and why Jacob Vaark had to have that large mansion despite never being able to live happily within it.

Book 2: The Fire This Time, edited Jesmyn Ward, 2016

Simon & Schuster, Inc., 226 pages

This is the best book to suit my mission this month and I quickly devoured it. As with most of my favorite titles, I found this by mistake, without even really searching for it, at my local library. I am VERY lucky to have a well-curated public library that has an excellently stocked non-fiction section. I have stumbled upon many a treasure there, including Dreamland by Sam Quinones and I Can't Breathe by Matt Taibbi (click for my review!), both of which were absolutely fabulous. Included in this treasure trove was The Fire This Time, edited by Jesmyn Ward, a breathtaking collection of essays from 18 other contributors , some written specifically for this book but others published elsewhere as a commentary on our times. Reading this variety, I was given some real insight into the Black Lives Matter movement, the black American experience, the teachings of James Baldwin (whose work The Fire Next Time inspired Ms. Ward to continue the message and teachings originated there, and so much more.

Though basically all of these essays were fabulous, I did end up with favorites. One of those essayists was Mitchell S. Jackson, who discusses the idea of composite fathers which is brilliant and uplifting. Though we may be disadvantaged, we have a way - even as a child - of finding what we need to survive and better ourselves. Jackson tells his own personal tale of not having a present biological father and instead using pieces of other males in his life to create an "ideal" of sorts. It is compelling.

Another favorite, and probably the most impactful to me, was written by a Jamaican immigrant who left Kingston for college in New Orleans and then moved to New York City after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city.  Garnette Cadogan mesmerizes in his retelling of his time walking - simply walking - and how he was actually safer on the very dangerous streets of Kingston than he was under extreme suspicion and racism in New Orleans and later New York City. Talk about a punch to the face as a wake up call. Amazingly you can find this essay online, posted by a professor I’m sure for their class. Visit: https://www.up.edu/garaventa/files/fildg%20files/garnette-cadogan-black-and-blue.pdf  You can also learn more at https://glc.yale.edu/SlaveryanditsLegacies/episodes/GarnetteCadogan. Since this is free and so accessible, I urge you to read this short telling of a handful of incidents Cadogan experienced simply Walking While Black. We must change, we must inspire change, and we must never stop under we do change. If everyone read this, I think it would give a real jolt to our political landscape and force voters to really understand the state of the country. It is so very important to learn from others and always have an open mind. I'm so happy books are there to remind us of that.

Book 3: Finding Me, by Viola Davis, 2022

HarperOne Publishing, 291 pages

Who doesn't love Viola Davis? Certainly, I've been a fan for a while. She is great in everything she does and a severely underrated actress. Her time on How to Get Away with Murder certainly helped give her mainstream fandom, but she is awesome and had been for a looooonnnnggggg time before her ABC headlining role. To prove her amazing prowess and ability, if you haven't seen The Woman King, stop everything and go see it right now!

Since I have been a fan for a while, picking up her autobiography from the library was a no brainer! I had always heard it was good but never got around to reading it. I am now furious I did not get this once it was first published. It is impossible not to be hooked from the first sentence which I cannot retype here. It is an "oh s*&t, here we go!" kind of moment. And you get the sense that that is exactly how young Viola's life went. She shares an up close, gritty core memory from early years in a rough, impoverished Rhode Island community. Being from Rhode Island myself, I have always followed Viola's career as a bit of a hometown hero and this access to her home life and upbringing is unparalleled. Though I am not very far into this, I already know I will recommend it to others and probably seek out a signed version to keep on my shelves. Have you read this? Did you become as enamored as I did?

And as we are talking about book recommendations to highlight and learn about Black History, I would be remiss if I did not insert a note about The Agitators by Dorothy Wickenden. Ms. Wickenden is not black. But her retelling of Harriet Tubman's friendship with some unlikely ladies of the 1800s and the rise of the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements, together, is incredible. I love how Wickenden's research presents Harriet as a real figure so we can just be that much more impressed with what she was able to carry out. Honestly, it's incredible. A brain injury, going back and forth so many times with willing, and unwilling, victims of slavery and guiding them to freedom. She saved so many and we learn about her as kiddos, never able to truly understand the danger she exposed herself to, the complete selflessness she enshrouded herself in, and the family relations that get forgotten sometimes amidst her heroism.

Last, but not least, I will be finishing up the month with Jesmyn Ward's Let Us Descend. I have not yet read this. I'm saving this for last because I know it is heavy and heartbreaking and I need to prepare myself to witness what I know will remind me of Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo". That novel, which was published posthumously was a compilation of her interviews with Cudjo, the last known transport on a slave ship. Her writing is so incredible and uses his vernacular in such a way that you can literally hear them talking about his experiences. Also of note, his participation in establishing a black-only village and how land was parceled out.

Has this post inspired you to read any of these authors? Share and comment, especially if you've read any!

Happy Reading!