Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation

(Hardback)

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A fascinating exploration into the lives of three women ignored by history Eye-opening, engrossing
Brit Bennett,bestselling author ofThe Vanishing Half

In her groundbreaking debut, Anna Malaika Tubbs tells the incredible, moving story of three women who raised three world-changing men.
Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, about Alberta King's son Martin Luther and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them, each fighting their own battles, born into the beginning of the twentieth century and a deadly landscape of racial prejudice, Jim Crow, exploitation, unpoliced violence and open police vitriol.

It was a society that would deny their sons humanity from the beginning as it had denied theirs, but Berdis, Alberta and Louise were extraordinary women who instilled resilience, resistance and greatness in their sons. They would become mothers not just to three world-famous men but to the civil rights movement itself.

These women represent a piece of history left untold and a celebration of Black motherhood long overdue.

Reviews

An intimate narrative that aims to link not only Little, King and Baldwin, but all Black mothers
New York Times Book Review

Through Tubbs' writing, Berdis, Alberta, and Louise's stories sing. Theirs is a history forgotten that begs to be told, and Tubbs tells it brilliantly
Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist

A fascinating exploration into the lives of three women ignored by history Uncovers hidden complexities within black motherhood that illuminate our understanding of the past while also shedding light on the overlooked contributions of black women today.An eye-opening, engrossing read
Brit Bennett,New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Vanishing HalfandThe Mothers

Does what Black women do best: hold up the light in darkness, calling us all to do our work Anna is a powerful storyteller, and we should all be grateful she chose to tell this story
Brittany Packnett Cunningham, co-host ofPod Save the Peopleand co-founder of Campaign Zero

A profound reflection on the contours of Black freedom in the twentieth century and beyond An essential celebration of Black women, one that illuminates the history of racism and resistance in critical new ways. A timely and important book
Elizabeth Hinton, author ofFrom the War on Poverty to the War on Crime

Magnificent An intimate explication of motherhood as the shoulders upon which children stand but it's also a love letter to these three particular Black women; a scholarly rejection of the trope of Black woman as conquered victim; anda literary declaration that Black women know best how to survive in this broken world while actively mending it for everyone
Julie Lythcott-Haims,New York Times bestselling author ofHow to Raise an Adult

Author Bio

Anna Malaika Tubbs is a Cambridge Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and a Bill and Melinda Gates Cambridge Scholar. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a BA in Anthropology, Anna received a Master's from the University of Cambridge in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies. Outside of the academy she is an educator, DEI consultant, and the First Partner of Stockton, CA. She lives with her husband, the mayor of Stockton, Michael Tubbs, and their son Michael Malakai.