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FEBRUARY 2021 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net Arts & Entertainment | 17 Author Q & A Meet the mothers of three Civil Rights icons tie Mothers IN l "rHER kin * *■«'</ihihes Shaped a Nation malaika I absolutely agree. They were trying to push the country generally to their ide als and a vision of what was possible, be cause they saw so clearly that it wasn’t true in the United States. They under stood they had value and worth, that they and their children deserved respect and dignity, but each day they also saw exam ples of that being denied to them as well as to their children. They were constant ly focused on their vision for the future, helping the world realize their own ability to see hu manity in everybody. And so they commanded re spect in their own house holds and it’s very clear that the sons knew how influen tial their mothers were. All three of the sons later spoke about how powerful and im portant their mothers were within those family units. Away from their personal connections, people were not paying them the honor and re spect they were due. BY KEVIN C. MADIGAN Religious leaders Martin Lu ther King Jr. and Malcolm X and author James Baldwin have be come enduring icons of the Civ il Rights movement. But what about Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin - the moth ers who raised them? The rarely discussed influ ence of those women is the sub ject of Anna Malaika Tubbs’ new book “The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation.” A doctoral candidate at the Uni versity of Cambridge, Tubbs is a sociologist, anthropologist and expert in multidisciplinary studies. Outside academia, she is a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant. Tubbs will appear in a virtual author talk at the Atlanta Histo ry Center on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. Registration for the free discus sion is available at AtlantaHistoryCenter. SPECIAL Anna Malaika Tubbs. something they didn’t necessarily re ceive themselves. What would you like people to take away from reading your book? The biggest thing is that we re-evaluate how we’re telling our stories and histo ry so that it includes the people that are around all of us. So, less of this notion of unicorn figures who pop up out of no where and are messiah-like, as if they were just born with these inspiring ideas, but to see more realistically things that were part of generational movements. Then we get a better understanding of the continuance of the work, and of where we are as a nation, and the world. Beyond that, we are specifically focusing on the stories we are intentionally eras ing, and these are just three examples. Again, the sons spoke about their moth ers often, and if you go back through their works with that lens, you’re going to see the moms so much more clearly be cause the sons had no intention of eras ing their mothers. It’s up to us historians to pay more attention and stop taking for granted the work that women have been doing on our behalf, especially Black women and Black mothers. Why choose these women in particular for your book? There are so many women I could have chosen, but I wanted to highlight Black women’s stories and talk about Black mothers, so I chose these three because their sons are so often put in conversa tion together. When I entered my Ph.D. [program], I had just watched the “I Am Not Your Negro” documentary based on James Baldwin’s writings, in which he speaks about Malcolm X and MLK and of bearing witness to his friends’ work, and how he felt it was his job to speak the truth about what they were doing, what they were accomplishing for our country and our world, and from that point on I saw these three men as being in a con stant conversation together. I felt their moms would add an incredible, beau tiful layer to the story and help us un derstand how all three men approached their work so differently based on what they were taught in their own families. All three moms were born within six years of each other and the sons were born within five years of each other. That allowed me to have some really cool in tersections in terms of their stories and their timelines, about what was happen ing nationally and internationally, and how it played out so differently in each of their lives based on their own access to resources, education, etcetera. It’s interesting that all three mothers taught their sons to command respect, Jewelry Artisans VALENTINE'S DAY SALE SPEND $500* AND GET A $100 SPA SYDELL GIFT CARD! /<* 4500 OLDE PERIMETER WAY, ATLANTA, 30346 - 770.393.0321 JEWELRYARTISANS.COM You owe her for all the diapers you didn’t change. / f $ b' M mm tiw / / IV % A 3E* ILr *Pre-discount, pre-tax, some exclusions apply. Cannot be used on previous purchases. Valid 2/1/21-2/14/21 "*• .7 -m.
