Exalting Motherhood while Honoring a Great Mother
Exalting Motherhood
While Honoring a Great Mother
A Coming-of-Age Story Black Motherhood,
Anti-racism & More
The book explores the ingenuity and resourcefulness of an African American family, mother, and father, bringing up six children in St. Louis during the 1950s and 1960s, first in Mill Creek, a segregated community of 20,000 displaced by urban renewal.
In the second community, the family moved to a nice middle-class multi-racial neighborhood in North St. Louis with small bungalows and manicured lawns. The culture and class shocks were eye-openers.
But more than this, it is a coming-of-age story during a period of intense social, racial, and political strife, exploring how a low-income African American family -- despite tremendous odds -- was able to study hard, work hard, cope and adapt in order to succeed. The addendum has several pages of strategies/tips for families to succeed despite the odds.
Mother Wit is ideal for book clubs, parent groups, teacher groups or as a companion text for teacher education programs or early childhood education as well as others. This book is particularly pertinent for those who are seeking to have a better understanding of addressing the issues/challenges of parenting/mothering regarding the most intransigent problems of our day, e.g., racism, sexism and classism as well as other forms of oppression.
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REVIEWS
"This book describes in a vivid and poignant manner the remarkable ability of a mid-twentieth century Black woman--living under conditions of Apartheid as practiced in the United States--to overcome harsh and even grotesque societal obstacles, and succeed in rearing six children. That each of them went on to excel in their chosen fields is worthy of serious contemplation. In addition, the reader is provided insight and illumination on still taboo topics such as "colorism" and intra-group violence that engender and nourish self-hate among many in the African American Community. Moreover, the author's penchant for candor is coupled with a constructive theme of hope and faith in the future."
William M Harvey, PhD, Psychologist
"Mother Wit is a love letter, first to Horne's visionary mother Flora and then to the story of imperfect people making their way, together, in an even more horribly imperfect world. This is a story of color, of cruelty, of family and of coming to understand. Horne has written the kind of family history that tells the reader much more than the surface of the story. The lives of her characters, family members across several generations, are built upon the context of racism and all the byproducts thereof. Reading their stories and seeing the strength of Flora and the children she raised, is testament to tenacity and hope."
Faith Sandler
Executive Director, Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis
"A moving tribute to a devoted mother whose determination, dedication and strong character allowed her family to breach barriers of race, class, and economic want to achieve measurable success. Dr. Horne's story of a loving mother with a keen intelligence who sacrificed all for her children is touching, inspiring and above all, instructive."
Gwen Moore, Curator, Missouri History Museum
"This is not just an evocative, at times heart-rending, portrait of an African-American mother but, as well, a colorful depiction of a Mississippi cum St. Louis family grappling with Jim Crow. In well-written prose worthy of a cinema production, this book is an instant classic meriting a place on the top shelf alongside Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Richard Wright."
Gerald Charles Horne, PhD, University of Houston
"Blessed is the mother who inspires her children to have aspirations and shows them the necessary steps to take to make those aspirations a reality. Malaika B. Horne writes, with a captivating style about such a mother, detailing the complex journey to attain seemingly simple goals, with clarity and forthrightness."
Blanche M. Touhill, PhD, Chancellor Emerita, University of Missouri-St. Louis