Morrison has proved to be the most thorough documentarian of African-American female existence in all its forms: in the womb, baby, child, girl, woman, senior, from the afterlife. The mantra of “God bless the child…” is actually her most consistent answer to black women. Enjoy Holiday’s original version, as well as a neat cover by Boy George and Micah Paris. Continue reading
From Goodreads: At the center: a woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life; but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love until she told a lie that ruined the life of an innocent woman, a lie whose reverberations refuse to diminish . . . Continue reading
In Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel Sula, published by Alfred Knopf at a time when “Black Power” commingled with Blaxploitation and Black revolution, three generations of impoverished Black whores—the third generation being educated, city-dwelling and experienced with “White men”—confront each other and their interior mysteries within their grand pre and post-Depression Ohio mansion. How is the home still standing? Who has passed through it? Who dies off within it? Who returns to claim it? Why are all levels occupied by vestiges of characters we would love to know better but almost hate to know at all— Continue reading
