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Tag Archives: African American women

The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad   

16 Tuesday Apr 2024

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in dystopian fiction, Fiction

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African American women, slavery, United States

This futuristic, dystopian novel is reminiscent of the Handmaid’s Tale describing a world where the lives of black women are determined by a computer algorithm.

“The Blueprint is an astounding work, an unflinching portrait of misogyny and racism in a speculative world terrifyingly close to our own. Rae Giana Rashad chronicles the generational ghosts of womanhood, and how we understand ourselves through the stories of those we come from, in a way I’ve never read before. A remarkable new talent, and a timeless literary voice.” — Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push

“Masterful . . . . Filled with themes such as regret, rebellion, tyranny, and courage, The Blueprint is a compelling read.” — Christian Science Monitor

“Rashad’s fantastic debut evokes familiar history, such as Sally Hemings’ forced relationship with Thomas Jefferson, yet is also wholly new, weaving together vividly imagined characters in Solenne and Henriette and deftly moving through multiple time periods while capturing Solenne’s haunted yet strong voice . . . . Horrifying, captivating, and full of urgency.” — Kirkus Reviews

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All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles

04 Saturday Nov 2023

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biography, Non-fiction

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19th century, African American women, Ashley (Enslaved person in South Carolina), family relationships, memory, mothers and daughters, South Carolina, Southern states, women slaves

This is a story of legacy. One rough cotton bag, called “Ashley’s Sack,” is embroidered with just a handful of words that evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love. In 1850s South Carolina, just before nine-year-old Ashley was sold, her mother, Rose, gave her this sack filled with just a few things as a token of her love.  It was passed down through generations. 

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

WINNER: PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, Lawrence W. Levine Award, Darlene Clark Hine Award, Cundill History Prize, John Kelly Memorial Prize, Massachusetts Book Award

“[A] brilliant and compassionate account.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Through [Miles’s] interpretation, the humble things in the sack take on ever-greater meaning, its very survival seems magical, and Rose’s gift starts to feel momentous in scale.”—Rebecca Onion, Slate 

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Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis  

24 Saturday Jun 2023

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biography

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actresses, African American women, African-American actresses, autobiography, biography, self-realization in women, Viola Davis 1965-

I highly recommend the audio version because it is read by the author. Heartbreaking and sad in many places, it is also funny at times too. I loved when she spoke as a friend or family member using their accent and voice.

“Davis’s grit and determination are moving, and her unflinching reckoning with the “racism and misogyny” she faced in Hollywood makes her story of overcoming all the more effective. Fans will be utterly enthralled.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Reading her memoir, Finding Me. . . you understand where her ability comes from: Only someone who has already been dragged into the depths of emotion readily knows how to get back there.”  — New York Times Magazine

“An unvarnished chronicle of hard-won, well-earned success.” — Kirkus Reviews

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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

02 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, mystery, United States

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1950's, African American women, detective, mystery, passing (identity), racial indentity, sisters, Southern town, twins

“The Vanishing Half is an utterly mesmerizing novel, which gripped me from the first word to the last. It seduces with its literary flair, surprises with its breath-taking plot twists, delights with its psychological insights, and challenges us to consider the corrupting consequences of racism on different communities and individual lives. I absolutely loved this book.” —Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

 “[Bennett’s] second [book], The Vanishing Half, more than lives up to her early promise.. . . more expansive yet also deeper, a multi-generational family saga that tackles prickly issues of racial identity and bigotry and conveys the corrosive effects of secrets and dissembling. It’s also a great read that will transport you out of your current circumstances, whatever they are… Like The Mothers, this novel keeps you turning pages not just to find out what happens.” —NPR

“Bennett pulls it off brilliantly… Few novels manage to remain interesting from start to finish, even — maybe especially — the brilliant ones. But… Bennett locks readers in and never lets them go… Stunning…She leaves any weighty parallels — between, for example, racial and gender determinism — to the reader. Her restraint is the novel’s great strength, and it’s tougher than it looks… The Vanishing Half speaks ultimately of a universal vanishing. It concerns the half of everyone that disappears once we leave home — love or hate the place, love or hate ourselves.” —Los Angeles Times

 “Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” —Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal

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Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

10 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in 20th century, Biography, History, Non-fiction, United States

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African American women, biography, cancer patients, cancer research, cell culture, heath, HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks 1920-1951, history, human experimentation in medicine, medical ethics, Virginia

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER –  If you never read it, do it now.  It is as relevant now as it was then, a must read and see the movie too starring Oprah Winfrey.  Book club selection at the Weston Public Library January 2020.

Just a few of the many accolades this 2010 book received:

Discover magazine 2010 Must-Read
Entertainment Weekly #1 Nonfiction Book of the Year
National Public Radio Best of the Bestsellers
Bloomberg Top Nonfiction
Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
Library Journal Top Ten Book of the Year
Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
Booklist Top of the List—Best Nonfiction Book
New York Times/Science Bestseller list

“Science writing is often just about ‘the facts.’ Skloot’s book, her first, is far deeper, braver, and more wonderful.” —New York Times Book Review

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a remarkable feat of investigative journalism and a moving work of narrative nonfiction that reads with the vividness and urgency of fiction. It also raises sometimes uncomfortable questions with no clear-cut answers about whether people should be remunerated for their physical, genetic contributions to research and about the role of profit in science.”
—National Public Radio

“Skloot explores human consequences of the intersection of science and business, rescuing one of modern medicine’s inadvertent pioneers from an unmarked grave.” —US News & World Report

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American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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African American women, Burkina Faso, Coup d'état 1987, intelligence officers, spy

As a black woman working for the FBI in the 1980s, Marie is somewhat of an outsider, until she is offered an assignment to get close to the leader of Burkino Faso. The novel shifts through different time periods in Marie’s life to show how her parents, sister, and sons have all shaped her life. This is well written and engaging.

“[This] unflinching, incendiary debut combines the espionage novels of John le Carré with the racial complexity of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Echoing the stoic cynicism of Hurston and Ellison, and the verve of Conan Doyle, American Spy lays our complicities—political, racial, and sexual—bare. Packed with unforgettable characters, it’s a stunning book, timely as it is timeless.”—Paul Beatty, Man Booker Prizewinning author of The Sellout

“Suspenseful . . . This story of espionage, told from the perspective of a woman of color, doesn’t gloss over how family and personal relationships, as well as institutional racism and chauvinism, complicate a career in secret intelligence, raising questions about U.S. involvement in developing countries and the obstacles faced by women and minorities in law enforcement. Should be a popular book club selection.”—Library Journal (starred review)

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Never Caught : the Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

17 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biography, History, Non-fiction, United States

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African American women, fugitive slaves, George Wahington (1732-1799), Martha Wahington (1731-1802), Oney Judge, relations with slaves, United States

“Oney Judge’s forgotten story is a powerful reminder that the tentacles of slavery could reach from the South all the way north to the State of New Hampshire.  The surprising part of the true history is not that she achieved her freedom, but the lengths to which George and Martha Washington would go to try to recapture a young woman who insulted them by rejecting bondage.” – Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina

“A startling, well-researched .  . . narrative that seriously questions the intentions of our first president.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Erica Armstrong Dunbar combines the known facts of Ona’s life in service to the Washingtons with vivid descriptions of the physical and emotional conditions early American slaves faced.” (New York Post)

“Totally engrossing and absolutely necessary for understanding the birth of the American Republic, Never Caught is richly human history from the vantage point of the enslaved fifth of the early American population. Here is Ona Judge’s (successful) quest for freedom, on one side, and, on the other, George and Martha Washington’s (vain) use of federal power to try to keep her enslaved.” (Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth, A Life, A Symbol)

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Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

21 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction

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African American women, Brooklyn (New York city), female friendship

9780062359988_p0_v7_s192x300

A short but powerful novel about a girl growing up in 1970s Brooklyn. The story explores family, gender, race, and the narrator’s coming of age in beautiful, poetic language.

“The novel’s richness defies its slim page count. In her poet’s prose, Woodson not only shows us backward-glancing August attempting to stave off growing up and the pains that betray youth, she also wonders how we dream of a life parallel to the one we’re living.” (Booklist (Starred Review))

“Woodson crafts a haunting coming-of-age story of four best friends in Brooklyn, New York…Here is an exploration of family—both the ones we are born into and the ones we make for ourselves—and all the many ways we try to care for these people we love so much, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. A stunning achievement from one of the quietly great masters of our time.” (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review)

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Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely

31 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, mystery

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African American women, murder, North Carolina, women detectives, women household employees

9780007424436_p0_v1_s114x166

Here is a thoroughly refreshing slant on the cozy mystery genre set in the countryside of North Carolina among the Carters, a dysfunctional family quietly feuding over their matriarch’s fortune.  Enter Blanche White, a black 40 year old housekeeper with moxie who knows she is made invisible by her color and profession. Blanche is an avid reader of people and situations who feels this is as much a part of her work as making beds and readers will delight in her social commentary. Nothing is what is seems in the tangled affairs of the Carter household and when Nate, the black groundskeeper, is murdered, Blanche summons all of her wits and gumption to bring the killer to justice.

“One of the best fictional detectives conjured up in years,” Library Journal

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