Morgan Jerkins

I received an ARC of this book free through the LTER program.

This book is a magnificently-written scream of rage and fury. It's honest and sometimes funny and I read it in one sitting. Everyone should read this book; I hope it becomes super-successful. It lays out Jerkins's doubts and inconsistencies along with a sure and unwavering uplift for other Black women.

Jerkins ties together the personal with the systemic, the historical with the extremely current moment. It's so quotable that I show more stopped even trying to keep track of all the sentences I wanted to quote in this review. If you need a gift for a young person of any race or gender (especially a young Black woman) going out into the world this spring or summer, please give this book. show less

Morgan Jenkins' second book is a riveting exploration of her family roots. Her journey takes her first to the Low Country of S. Carolina and Georgia, the Gullah Geechee islands where the first enslaved people landed, now stolen acres dominated by wealthy white landowners. There, Jenkins learns about the medicinal roots and herbs that saved lives when no medical professionals served Black people. Next, to Louisiana and her Creole ancestors, the gens de couleur libre, free people of color, who show more ended up travelling with exiled Native Americans and becoming freedmen in Oklahoma. The law called the Dawes Rolls determined which of the Native tribespeople received land allotments, and if you were judged as more Black than Native and listed as such on the Rolls, you were denied tribal membership and the benefits of its privileges. Her last stop is LA, as some of her family had moved West for opportunities that again eluded Black people due to the virulent racism that was pervasive through the Rodney King area and has resulted in Blacks recently leaving California in large numbers. Jenkins' writing is scholarly yet folksy as she shares the delight and pain of her family members and the incredible knowledge gained from helpful strangers in each locale. It's a fruitful combination of travelogue and history lesson.

Quotes: "Black jazz artists infused their music with Black church styles from the rural South to make their music something the whites couldn't imitate."

"In 1641, Massachusetts became the first colony to recognize slavery."

"Creoles did not want to carry the weight of being Black in America. Perhaps they defined themselves as just Creole in order to not feel erased, even though the Louisiana French Creole they speak is a mixture of French and several West African languages, including Mande, Ewe, and Yoruba."

"He said, "You're Creole, you're Black. There is no white Creole. We're mixed people."

"We had to move to save our families, move to get better jobs and earn money, or move because we had this unwavering belief, despite endless oppression, that there was a different type of beauty to be found in another zip code."

"White people just could not leave Black people alone, and their constant meddling in our lives is one of the biggest reasons why we continue to be displaced, disrespected, disenfranchised, and murdered." show less

This is likely the best memoir/exploration of intersectionality that I have encountered. Well-written and fiercely articulated, the author delves into her experience of race, sex and feminism as a black woman. She crafts a good criticism of mainstream feminism (it's more than a little white) and provides a gut-wrenching view of what it's like to grow up as a black woman in America. This is definitely a book more people need to read and it particularly speaks to the era we are currently show more experiencing as a nation. show less

Whew - hang on, this is an INTENSE exploration of a woman's most intimate secrets and her most public persona. I have so many sticky notes in this book that it looks like a porcupine. Here are the chapters with a brief description of each:

1. Monkeys like you - Morgan, raised in a white middle class community, tries out for cheerleading and is not chosen. She becomes more aware of the differences in how black girls and white girls are perceived.

2. How to be docile - 22 reminders of how black show more women are commanded to live up to white eyes/expectations

3. The stranger at the carnival - all about her acceptance of, and finally joy in, her hair and body

4. A hunger for men's eyes - catcalling and porn viewing

5. A lotus for Michelle - a loving appreciation of Michelle Obama

6. Black Girl Magic - considering cultural appropriation, and bell hooks vs Beyoncé

7. Human, not black - Morgan's travels in Russia and Japan (she studied both languages at Princeton)

8. Who will write us? My favorite chapter, about what happens when white women write and make films about black women

9. How to survive: a manifesto on paranoia and peace - self-explanatory and I just have to add this one quote: "When a non-black person is complimenting you on your eloquence and presentability only because you adhere to the norm, this is not a compliment at all but a salute to white supremacy. You passed THEIR test, not your own."

10. A black girl like me - what black women owe each other

This is a must-read for white women who consider themselves "allies". Women of color will nod along, and there's plenty of learning from Morgan Jenkins to go around. I simply have no idea what men would do with this book. It's not for them. show less