United States – …on the B.L.

The Black Book

February 8, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 224
Quick Review A heartbreaking history of Africans’ struggle to gain humanity, recognition, rights, and the hope for equality in America from 1619 through the 1940s.

wp-1581016286017 — The Black Book is a devastating history lesson. | Dress | Sweater | Purse | Glasses | Shoes |

The Black Book is absolutely soul crushing and devastating. I read it through tears and fought back bouts of nausea. It is incredibly affecting. I have too many feelings and a lot of guilt during and after reading. I can’t get the words or the images out of my mind.

Tony Morrison prefaces the book with an incredibly powerful piece. It took my breath away, and I was only on page one.

History is white-washed more often than not. We have a tendency to romanticize and paint a much prettier picture than the realities people endured. This is particularly atrocious throughout American history and the treatment of the black community. The Black Book is dedicated to an honest history and depiction of life and society. Though it’s not a happy picture, it’s a picture deserving to be told and heard and taught. If history is not learned, it’s doomed to be repeated. We cannot repeat the history contained within these pages.

The book contains first pictures, news articles, poems, songs, advertisements, excerpts, laws, myths, patents, facts, sports, legends, religion, and so much more. History is being told through the lens of the time period. There is no explanation. The editors give the reader the information and allow them to take away what they will. Although, it would be hard to read it without having a horrible view on history. The editors do not edit or politically correctisize (it’s a word now) the word usage. Racist words and expressions are kept to reflect the times and the hatred the black community faced.

Death is better than slavery was a recurring theme throughout. There are stories of men and women fighting back, running away, supporting one another, and standing up for themselves and their community. For all the awfulness throughout The Black Book, there is more time spent highlighting the successes and brilliance of the black community than the nightmares imposed by the white people who dictated society.

There is no part of society that has not been touched and improved by a black person. Throughout history they have fought for the basic right to exist and fought their way into every sphere of culture. Not only were they a part of these spheres, they excelled when everyone told them they couldn’t and weren’t allowed. The Black Book is a testament to black excellence in the face of oppression, violence, and subjugation. For the few who found success, changed culture, opened minds, and affected the law, there are thousands upon millions more who never received the chance. History is a horror, but it can teach us to learn from the mistakes already made.

I have no doubt, you will be haunted by The Black Book if you take the time to read it, and I highly suggest you do. I finished it with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart. The world is changing. Not as fast as it should, but it is changing. Maybe someday, The Black Book will be a distant memory, but that day is not today. We can still feel the echoes of history loudly in our culture.

Memorable Quotes
“Steal away, steal away, steal away home. I ain’t got long to stay here.”
“They failed to ask my name and called me negro.” Henry Dumas

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: The Black Book
Editor: Middleton A. Harris, Morris Levitt, Roger Furman
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781400068487

In My Own Words, Lifestyle

Happy Fourth

July 4, 2019 RaeAnna

Beau’s Shirt | My Shirt | Undershirt | Shorts | Shoes

Happy Fourth of July from Beau and I to you!

For the non-Americans, the Fourth of July is when the United States celebrates its freedom, and it is also known as Independence Day.

In 1776, the United States was actually a British colony. On July 2, 1776, we declared independence from the British Empire. Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It wasn’t until August 2, 1776 that the Declaration was signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Independence Hall. Today, Americans like to celebrate with a day off, food, fireworks, and time spent with family and friends. Fireworks are mandatory in my book.

This is my first Fourth in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for two and a half years. The first year, I was on vacation in San Diego. Last year, I was in Chicago. This year, I am celebrating with friends and Beau. We’ll find out if Beau is scared of fireworks…

I have mixed feelings about the Fourth of July. Many Americans like to taut the U.S. as the best country in the world. I do love this country despite the human cesspool currently in office. There are lots of things to love, and a whole bunch of things leading to disappointment and anger.

Like many countries, America’s history is fraught with racism, oppression, destruction, ignorance, slavery, and so much more. We are a great country with some truly wonderful people and things to offer the world, but there are some equally frightening aspects of who we are.

Our present is precarious. We are stripping women of their autonomy and rights. We’re holding children and adults at borders in horrifying conditions so much so people are dying. We elected a terrible person to the highest office in this country. A rapist is sitting on the Supreme Court. Racism is rampant. Flint’s water is still dangerous. College is overpriced. People think vaccines are a scam. Insurance is not for everyone. Oh my God, the list goes on and on and on and on. My heart hurts, and anger is an understatement.

I don’t understand how we could possibly be the greatest country in the world when there are so many people suffering and so many things are going wrong. We are a country full of potential to be great, but we’re not there yet.

Happy Fourth of July. Have fun! Celebrate. Enjoy the day. I will. But don’t let the fanfare make you forget all the things we have done wrong historically and presently.

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Books

All the Single Ladies

January 26, 2018November 4, 2018 RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: 339
Quick Review: An in depth look at the transformation in status, perception, and participation American women have undergone in society through the centuries.

20180115_111033(0)-01.jpeg — All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister

Rebecca Traister had me hooked when she stated, “I always hated it when my heroines got married” within the first few paragraphs. All the Single Ladies is a look at modern women and where we have come from.

All the Single Ladies is a fun yet in depth look at the history of women with a focus on American women. There are tons of statistics, but you won’t drown in them. The statistics serve a purpose to educate but are still interesting. Traister utilizes her own single life as well as friends, colleagues, and others’ experiences as single women. One thing Traister conveys more than anything else is that singledom is incredibly diverse looking different for everyone.

Traister is not anti-marriage, anti-male, anti-woman, or anti-single. When she began her journey writing this book, she was a single woman living in New York City. At some point in her life and book journey, she met a man. She is now a married woman with two daughters.

This has been on my reading list for awhile since I am a single lady. For as excited as I was, I was also a touch tentative. Rebecca Traister is a white woman. There is nothing wrong with this. When looking at a subject, there is the tendency to look at people similar to oneself. I was worried there would be a deficiency of inclusivity and diversity of perspective, socio-economic background, race, etc. I was pleasantly surprised. From the beginning, she states that she sites more white, New Yorker writers than most of us probably know. Throughout the book, she does a good job of talking about all women and not just those she identifies with. She spends a great deal of time discussing the disparity between white women and women of color, poor women and middle class/wealthy women, and more. She explores the fact women of color and poor women have enabled wealthier classes of women “freedoms.” How there is a dependency between the two discrepancies. How white women have lead change by co-opting opinions and actions of women of color.

Traister spends a lot of time emphasizing the complexities of women’s issues.

Nothing Traister wrote was groundbreaking. At least, it wasn’t ground breaking or remotely shocking to me. I spend a lot of my time listening to women’s stories and reading about the history and complexities of women’s status in society. If it’s not something you have spent a great deal of time lingering on, there will be lots of information packed into a fairly short book.

(I have fun finding mistakes, and she had one mistake on page 153: the date should be 1938 but reads 1838. Oops! Only off by 100 years.)

I highly suggest this book. It’s interesting and fun. Personally, it rejuvenated my love of being a single woman in America. I would love to hear Traister’s opinions about women’s status post the 2016 presidential election.

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Memorable Quotes
“…these single American women have already shown that they have the power to change America, in ways that make many people extremely uncomfortable.”
“Any time women do anything with their lives that is not in service to others, they are readily perceived as acting perversely.”
“When people call single women selfish for the act of spending on themselves, it’s important to remember that the very acknowledgement that women have selves that exist independently of others, and especially independent of husbands and children, is revolutionary.”
““It takes a lot to qualify a man as selfish”” Amina Sow
“The state must play its role in supporting a population that no longer lives and dies within a family unit.”
“at the heart of independence lies money.”
“When it comes to female liberty and opportunity, history sets an extremely low bar.”
“women’s maternal status is often treated as the singularly interesting thing about them”

Title: All The Single Ladies; Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation
Author: Rebecca Traister
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9781476716572