Life Stories of African American Women

EYES OF THE BEHOLDERS

Life Stories of African American Women

An Anthology by the Golden Writers

Edited by Eric Brown

The wisdom of our elders is priceless, especially in these days and times. They are the living connection to our history as African Americans. Theirs are the shoulders upon which we stand. The stories they share, their life experiences, are what we can learn from going forward. Such is a group of sistahs known as the Golden Writers, ranging in age from their 50s to 80s, who created an anthology: Eyes of the Beholders, Life Stories of African American Women.

The sistahs whose stories comprise this anthology—Penny Duncan Stephens, Melvina Jordan, Dr. Ingrid Benjamin, Dorothy Kinsey, Beatress Lynn, Doris Thomas, Debora Starr, Sharon Parker, Inez Thomas, Jacqui Jones Helen Brown, and Peggy Sue Bellot—are Black women with roots in the South, with the exception of Ingrid Benjamin, who comes from Guyana.

I had the honor of meeting Doris Thomas at the Artists in the Afternoon event in Atlanta this past summer, and she is representative of the wealth of knowledge and experience of the Golden Writers. In the forward to this book, she gives us the reasons it is important for Black women of a certain age to share their stories—“to leave our footprint in the sand, showing that we have made a difference no matter how large or small. We need to tell our stories to help others, older and younger, understand that writing purges the ghosts of the past, present, and future. We can show how we have overcome and/or may still be dealing with experiences that could have destroyed us, crippled us, made us lose our minds, yet we stand.”

Thomas, like her sistahs, shares her experiences in a variety of vignettes at different times in her life. Through each woman, I read a tapestry of stories: life in the segregated South (urban and rural), family dysfunction, abuse, racism, colorism, favoritism in employment, what love is (and isn’t), treasured memories, succeeding against the odds, connection, found family, our thought life, forgiveness, and faith journeys. And for those writers who have children and grandchildren, stories of breaking generational curses. It was humbling to read these stories, which made me appreciate even more the stories my late mother shared with me and my siblings during the last year of her life.

We never know what someone has gone through, what has shaped their life, until they share their story. It is inspiring and humbling to read this anthology.

Eyes of the Beholders is available through Sumner House Publishing and Powell’s City of Books.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Golden Writers for the gifts you have given us through this anthology.