Tag Archives: Harriet Tubman

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Book Notes: My Review of “The Moses Quilt” by Kathi Macias (BOOK GIVEAWAY)

Hello World,  mosescover

I had been holding off all month about posting about Black History Month because I knew I would be writing about Kathi Macias’ latest book “The Moses Quilt.” In this book, we meet young couple Mazie Hartford and Edward Clayton, who live in Langsdale, California nearby San Francisco. The couple are clearly in love, and Edward wants to marry Mazie, but for some reason, Mazie won’t say yes to his proposal. Edward is a Christian, a successful lawyer and devoted to Mazie. Mazie is also a Christian, getting ready to start her teaching career and equally devoted to Edward. Everyone in their families believes they are a good match even if the two are different races. Edward is black while Mazie is white. Although Mazie is not racist, it becomes clear as the story continues that their different races is causing Mazie to be fearful about being an interracial married couple.

Mazie’s great-grandmother Mimi, who moved from Alabama to live with Mazie and her mother, understands Mazie’s apprehension about moving forward with Edward. Although she is an elderly white woman from the South, she is not racist. In fact, she believes that she can help Mazie move past her fear by telling the story behind her beloved Moses quilt. The Moses quilt was named after Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who became like Moses in the Bible as she led hundreds of escaped slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

Throughout the rest of the book, Mimi shares stories about Harriet Tubman with Mazie and Edward. As I learned about Harriet Tubman as a child, I did not expect to learn more about this courageous woman but Macias obviously thoroughly researched Tubman’s life and shared details I did not know. Mimi’s storytelling becomes even more precious to Mazie and Edward as it becomes clear that the 93-year-old woman is nearing death. Does Mazie marry Edward? Will Mimi get to finish her story before she passes away? What secrets are interwoven in the Moses quilt? Of course, I cannot answer those questions! You have to get the book! What I appreciated most about Book 1 in “The Quilt Series” is how Macias was able to stitch together a modern day love story and a story about one of the most beloved women in black history.

For more information about “The Moses Quilt,” please check out the book trailer below:

For more information about Kathi Macias and her other books, please go to kathimacias.com.

If you would like to win a free copy of  “The Moses Quilt” please see the link below. By entering the contest, you are also subscribing to my e-mail list :) Don’t worry. I don’t e-mail very much :) For more opportunities for free copies of “The Moses Quilt” by Kathi Macias, please visit Facebook.com/CSSVBT.KathiMacias.

Any thoughts?

Note: I was given a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for posting a book review on my blog; however, the opinions are mine alone.

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Not Every Black Person Believes in God…

Hello World,

It’s funny (funny peculiar, not funny haha) that Christ often gets lost in the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas, but it’s true…And it’s also true that black people are known in this country for having an unshakeable belief in God that brought us through slavery and other historical hardships and continues to sustain us today…But more and more black people are admitting that they frankly do not believe in Jesus Christ or God, which is especially poignant at this time of the year…

Tommie Shelby

Tommie Shelby, professor of African and African-American studies and of philosophy at Harvard University, recently shared why he is a black atheist on theroot.com in his essay “I Didn’t Lose Faith. I Just Don’t Have It.”

Below are a few excerpts from his essay…

And so one day, after much study, I joined a church and was baptized. Soon I was earnestly sharing the gospel with family and friends. I lived at home during the summer after my freshman year, and my mother and I studied together. As a result, her faith was renewed. Indeed, she held tightly to her faith until the day she died.

I can’t say the same for myself. By the time I graduated, I no longer believed in God. I didn’t get to this place easily. It was a painful and trying process that involved hours of study, reflection, self-examination, fasting and prayer.

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I worried that my belief in God was ultimately rooted in things like fear of death, desire for community or longing for the loving father figure I didn’t have. Was my attraction to Christian doctrines driven by the fact that I was a lonely, alienated, scared kid looking for something firm to hold on to? After all, faith made me feel powerful and protected.

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I’m an intellectual, by natural disposition and vocation. I have chosen to live a life of the mind in a community of scholars where my nonbelief is unremarkable. My path is not for everyone. And I don’t expect most black folk to leave the Lord. What I would like to see, though, is greater respect for and understanding toward the nonbelievers among us. If my mother could muster it, surely we all can.

Another black atheist, Jamila Bey,  shares how she celebrates the Christmas holidays without Christ in her essay “Heathen Holidays: An Atheist Celebrates”also on the root.com.

Jamila Bey

So what do I think of the views of the Shelby and Bey as an unabashed believer in Jesus Christ? Well, first of all,  I very much value the freedoms on which this country was based – one of which is the freedom of religion….We are free to believe in whatever God we choose to believe in, and we are also free to choose to not believe in any God at all…So I say – have at it Shelby and Bey…

But I will also say this…the freedoms (religious and otherwise) that Shelby and Bey enjoy today in this country are the result of courageous black Christians down through the years that sacrified – many with their lives – so that we can be as free as we want to be today…it is a real luxury for Shelby and Bey to say they don’t believe in Jesus Christ in today’s times…

Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are just few black people whose lives and Christian faith enabled us to enjoy the freedoms we so cavalierly enjoy today…I’m not sure that Shelby and Bey would be of the same opinion years ago…not hatin’ just sayin’…

What say you?

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

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Broads and Billboards aka Oh YaVaughnie…

Hello World!!!

When this juicy story arrived in my e-mail inbox on Friday courtesy of my girl U, I knew I had to write about it…this story is one for the history books…It should definitely be a chapter, if not section, in the Playa Playa manual….Okay, enough of the intro…

Oracle president Charles Phillips must have had a near coronary when he discovered that his former mistress of nearly nine years literally put their love display by posting a picture of the couple on billboards in San Francisco, where Oracle is based; Atlanta and New York’s Time Square. Apparently YaVaughnie (that name is something huh?) was inspired to do so after discovering that Charles was going back to his wife. But she did not stop there. She created a Web site, that has now been taken down, that included a montage of pictures of the couple complete with a soundtrack of karaoke tunes recorded by the former lovers.

I guess what trips me out about this story beyond the obvious is that Phillips is a black man and the president of Oracle…I mean I know that our president is black…but something about this makes me wonder what our forefathers like Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman would say…I’m like you defied the odds against you as a black man and rose the top of a major corporation and managed to be taken down by a woman…But I guess folks died so that we could be free – free to vote and free to cheat if we so desire…

And beyond that, I wonder how does one go about being the mistress to the president of a major corporation…They must have obviously run in the same circles…but what circle exactly did YaVaughnie come from…According to stories I’ve read, YaVaughnie is an actress and a writer…but I cannot find a single acting credit or anything she has written…hmmm…something to ponder…

And beyond that, I wonder how many women are approached by married men…As far as I know, two married men have approached me, but of course, I shut them down…But back to YaVaughnie, I understand her pain to a certain degree but how did she wake up day after day for more than eight years knowing that she was cheating with somebody’s husband, the father of a child…

If had to write a chapter in the Playa Playa Manual about YaVaughnie (I love her name), I would entitle it “It’s a Thin Line…” (Y’all fill in the rest…) I would say, “Playas, when thinking of taking a mistress, one must consider the temperament of the ‘lady’ in question. The same woman who is wild and free will remain wild and free when you decide her services are no longer needed. Please consult the section on Steve McNair.  You must also consider the station in life of the ‘lady’ in question. If she has nothing to lose, chances are you will be losing a great deal should you decide her services are no longer needed. Please consult the section on Tiger Woods.” I could go on and on…

I think there should be a yearly edition of the Playa Playa Manual, and the most infamous cheater of the year should be pictured on the cover. Although 2010 has just begun, I think John Edwards should be on the cover for the 2010 edition. (I’m just having fun now…I’m sorry for those who are offended…) You cheat on your cancer-stricken wife and father a child with the mistress…Really, there are no words…I think former President Bill Clinton should be a consultant for the manual…

But seriously though, it’s all sooo sad….since this is a religious blog, lemme go head and add some applicable scripture to this commentary…

But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. Proverbs 6:32

Any thoughts?