There are days we may need to hear encouraging things. Words that will help you to love yourself and others. Messages that will encourage you to fight for your rights. To appreciate how the women in the past have fought for the rights we have today and to continue what they have done.
I believe that is why internationally on March 8 the world celebrates Women. The entire month of March is Women’s History Month. I am sharing quotes, books, and movies to inspire you. Since I am a history buff, I am sharing books from past and present historical figures.
The books I am reading are books I have read, or I am reading have inspired me to do better. I hope these books will inspire you too.
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Maya Angelou
Letter to My Daughter.
I have read many of her books and have enjoyed learning about her life. I know most have heard I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, she has written other titles. The most recent book I have read is Letter to My Daughter.
Maya Angelou does not have a biological daughter. Maya Angelou described all women who are like her daughters. Daughters she has met or daughters she has not met before. Her daughters are of different ethnicities, and ages, and from many walks of life. She shares lessons and stories she learned. But she does not want us to use her life and quotes as solutions. But to find a new solution.
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. Do not complain. Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”
The book includes lessons you learned in her life. Such as how to behave when people offer her food.
“I began this lifelong lesson. If human beings eat a thing, and if I am not so violently repelled by my own upbringing that I cannot speak, and if it is visually clean within reason, and if I am not allergic to the offering, I will sit at the table and with all the gusto I can manufacture I will join in the feast.
You will learn about how her life was when she was with her grandmother. Angelou enjoyed living with her and loved being around her grandmother. She was so attached to her grandmother, that friends would say she was her grandmother's shadow. She also writes about what it was like to live with her mother.
Overall, I enjoyed reading about her life and seeing her perspective on things.
I remember reading this story in college. I found it amazing because I had never read anything like it before. One moment, I felt I knew which lady was Black and which was white. The next, I was confused. It changed my notions about race and poverty. I am looking forward to reading it again.
Women in the Civil Rights Movement Trail Blazers and Torchbearers 1941-1965
Focuses on the conference took place on October 12-15, 1988. The conference brought together women involved in the civil rights movement and scholars. Their goals were to identify, acknowledge, and celebrate the women involved. They also wanted to continue the dialogue between scholars and activities concerning social change and methods of empowerment. To open up new ideas, questions, and possibilities.
This book is a collection of the papers collected at the conference. After much discussion, it became clear that women took multiple roles in the civil rights movement. Leaders such as Septima Clark and Modjeska Simkins were leaders in their local communities. They also were leaders in various states. For example, Septima Clark supported equal pay for Black teachers. Her dismal caused her to get involved in the civil rights movement.
I enjoyed reading about all the women in the book. But hearing Fannie Lou Hamer's story was something I never will forget. Hamer and her family put their lives on the line to fight for their rights. They lost jobs and received threats, but it did not stop them from trying to register to vote. She and her family were even arrested. Hearing this made me realize that women contributed a lot to the civil rights movement and deserved to be acknowledged and celebrated.
This book is best for people who love history.
Carolina Built
Based on the life of Josephine N. Leary. She was a businesswoman who lived in Edenton, North Carolina. The book starts off with how Leary moved from Edenton, North Carolina. She is recently married and wants to continue her business. With her obligations as a wife, mother, daughter, and granddaughter, she tries not to give up on her dreams. She managed to teach herself to be a businesswoman.
The building she owns is still here to this day. It is known as a building for the local newspaper.
Excellent book for people who enjoy history.
Cicely Tyson Just as I am
I really enjoyed reading late Cicely Tyson's story. She was a phenomenal actress who had worked for years. Some people don't like reading forwards, but I thought this one was amazing. The forward was a testament to her life. It is befitting since she soon died after finishing her book.
“You'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse,' Denzel Washington often said as we worked together on 'Fences.' 'I don't care how much money you have or what level of notoriety you've achieved, you can't take any of it with you.' There is a cap on earthly success, a ceiling on the amount of joy that possessions and awards can bring before disillusionment sets in. Our appearance, our prosperity, the applause: all of it is so fleeting. But a life of true significance has unlimited impact. It is measured in how well we've loved those around us, how much we've given away, and how many seeds we've sown along our path. During her ninety-six years, Ms. [Cicely] Tyson has discovered the potent elixir: she has lived a life that is bigger than she is, an existence grounded in purpose and flourishing in service to others. That is her defining masterpiece. That is her enduring gift to us all.
[Viola Davis, Foreword]”
― Just as I Am
In the book, she discusses the early beginnings of her life. What I found most interesting was her relationship with her mother. Her mother was a stern woman. But if you read the book, you will understand why.
“My mother, a woman who, amid abuse, stuffed hope and a way out into the slit of a mattress, is the very face of fortitude. I am an heir to her remarkable grit. However, beneath that tough exterior, I’ve also inherited my mother’s tender femininity, that part of her spirit susceptible to bruising and bleeding, the doleful Dosha who sat by the window shelling peanuts, pondering how to carry on.
bell hooks
Rock my Soul
We know anyone can suffer from low self-esteem. Bell hooks examined why Black people have low esteem. She discussed and studied what contributes to it. She also looked at how people can recover their self-esteem. One way she mentioned is not to build our self-esteem on titles, buildings, and things. Hooks also adds that we challenge the ones under us who put us down when we express how we feel.
My favorite thing she said was to be around people with healthy self-esteem. To ask them how they got that way. Overall, I think the last few chapters can really help people to improve their self-esteem.
Harriet Jacobs A Life
You probably never heard of Harriet Jacobs, but she was a former enslaved woman from Edenton, North Carolina. She went on to be an abolitionist. Jean Fagan Yellin writes about her life. Her family shielded her from the fact that she was an enslaved child. Jacobs learned at age four how she and her family were considered property. Her master sold her uncle to another owner.
As Jacobs got older, she would lose more family members and protection. When she got older, she faced a terrible situation that caused her to take her freedom. She and others formed an elaborate plan that still amazes me to this day. Her escape shows how difficult it was for a person to run away.
This book examines the history and account of Harriet Jacobs. If you want to learn more about read, Incidents in the Life of a slave girl written by Jacobs after she escaped.
The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni
She is one of my favorite poets and I could not leave her off the list. I love so many of her poems which is why picked the Collected Poems of Nikki Giovanni. It includes her first poems she published in 1968 and continued until 1998. It does not include all of her work but most.
Some of my favorite poems are Nikki Rosa, Gwendolyn Brooks, Autumn Poems, Poem for Aretha, and Ego Tripping just to name a few.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Toni Morrison considered Zora Neal Hurston "one of the greatest of our time". Zora Neal Hurston was ahead of her time writing her main character, Janie Crawford. Janie had two marriages. The first was an arranged marriage. Her second marriage was to an who had great standing in the community. He abused and controlled Janie. None of those two marriages fulfilled her life. When she meets Tea Cake, she falls in love with him. Tea Cake was the only man she loved.
What I love about this book is that Hurston displays the Southern culture and dialect in the book. Hurston was an anthropologist who studied and researched Black Southern Culture. Most people during the Harlem Renaissance did not discuss Southern Black people. They wanted to focus mainly on those who migrated to Northern states. They felt that Southern Black culture was not rich. Hurston believed otherwise and used her research in this book.
Conclusion:
There are so many books that I have read or plan on reading. It was hard to include all of the books. I wanted to include books and women whose stories and words I love reading.
What books written by women do you enjoy? Who is your favorite female author?
Books from post
More books to read.
