Yo Mama! They rock the cradle, their sons changed the world
Barbadian folklore meets superheroes
Caribbean Life, February 19-25, 2021 39
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Your mom was always on
your side.
She stuck up for you when
nobody else would, through
thick and through thin. She
had your back, she prayed
for you, and she wanted the
best for you. She was always
there and that never changed,
though in the new book “The
Three Mothers” by Anna
Malaika Tubbs, some mothers
change the world.
For most of her life, Louise
Langdon hated the color of her
skin.
Growing up in Grenada in
the late 1800s, she was surrounded
by the dark-skinned
children of former slaves but
Louise‘s father was a white man
who raped her barely-teenage
mother, leaving Louise with a
pale complexion. For the rest of
her life she held deep anger at
the supremacy that white people
assumed, from her migration
north to her marriage to
Earl Little and her activism,
the latter of which she passed
to her son, Malcolm.
As a part of the Great Migration,
Berdis Jones got caught
up in the excitement of the
Harlem Renaissance and some
months after landing in New
York City, Berdis gave birth to
a son whose father was uninterested.
For much of young
Jimmy‘s early life, then, it was
just him and his mother, and
she worked long nights at a
cleaning job to ensure that he
had what he needed. What he
didn’t need was a new stepfather,
David Baldwin, who
suffered from an undiagnosed
mental illness.
The Reverend and First Lady
of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist
Church wanted only the best
for their daughter, Alberta.
The Williams gave Alberta the
finest education, music lessons,
all that an upper-class
Black young lady would need.
When an itinerant, uneducated
preacher, Michael King, came
calling on Miss Alberta, the
Williams were dead-set against
the romance. Alberta, however,
saw a good heart in Michael
Book cover of “The Three Mothers” by Anna Malaika Tubbs.
— one that later inspired their
son, Martin.
“The Three Mothers” is one
of those books that you really
want to like but doing so is a
challenge. It’s a very good book
that’s in very bad need of an
editor.
Format-wise, it starts where
all good biographies do. Author
Anna Malaika Tubbs tells why
she wrote this book before she
plunges into a brief account of
the ancestry of her main subjects.
This immediately begins
to build the layers of story that
ultimately explain the work
behind three great men.
At issue, however, is that
each section of the women’s
lives is woven very loosely
around Black history of their
era. That contributes to a confusion
of timeline, and out-ofplace
points that reduce the
smoothness of a history that’s
otherwise riveting. It’s like trying
to watch three TV shows at
once; add contradictions and a
confidently-stated point-as-fact
that experts still aren’t sure
about, and you may be left frequently
scratching your head.
If you overlook the scatteredness
and don’t mind frequent
side-trips, “The Three
Mothers” is a great examination
of a rarely-told triple story
and you’ll love it. If you like
your books more linear and
straightforward, though, just
put this one aside.
“The Three Mothers:
How the Mothers of Martin
Luther King, Jr., Malcolm
X, and James Baldwin
Shaped a Nation” by
Anna Malaika Tubbs
c.2021, Flatiron Books
$28.99 / $38.50
Canada 272 pages
“TheThree Mothers” author Anna Malaika Tubbs. Anna Malaika Tubbs
By Nelson A. King
“Hardears,” created by
authors Matthew Clarke and
Nigel Lynch, is the newest
book from Megascope, a line of
graphic novels from the Manhattan
based Abrams ComicArts.
Abrams ComicArts said it is
dedicated to “showcasing speculative
and nonfiction works
by and about people of color,
with a focus on science fiction,
fantasy, horror, history and
stories of magical realism.”
In “Hardears,” Barbadian
folklore meets superheroes in
a breathtakingly original Afro
Caribbean fantasy adventure
story.
Abrams ComicArts said
“Hardears” takes place on Jouvert
Island, a magical analog
of the island of Barbados, and
begins when a superstorm of
unprecedented strength obliterates
the island, leaving it
totally defenseless.
“A local hero named Bolo
and his love, Zhara, must fight
evil forces that have taken over
Jouvert and captured people
from the island, using their
life essence — or vibes — to
feed factories,” Abrams ComicArts
said.
It said Bolo, Zhara, and their
allies must find the strength of
their island and ancestors to
fight for their homeland.
“Hardears” features an
afterword by comic arts and
African American and Caribbean
literature scholar Cathy
Thomas, who gives context
to the Caribbean history and
folklore that permeates the
graphic novel.
The book’s product link can
be found here: https://www.
abramsbooks.com/product /
hardears_9781419751929/
Cover of “Hardears,” by authors
Matthew Clarke and
Nigel Lynch.
© Megascope, 2021
/www
/www
/product
