Anna Malaika Tubbs tells three stories that are often overlooked but deeply important to civil rights history.

Tubbs does a masterful job of interweaving the facts of these women’s lives into the evolving social and political histories of civil rights, including accounts of the horrific injustices suffered by women of color. This book arose out of Tubbs’ doctoral dissertation on Black motherhood. Her passion to give voices to overlooked people of color is evident, and her storytelling is compelling. This important piece of scholarship and profoundly personal portrayal of African American women deserves a wide audience..

Tubbs excavates and honors [...] traditions via the mothers.

Endurance and resilience are the themes here. In the face of racism, sexism and tremendous violence, these three mothers survive. They are honored, in these pages, as the extraordinary women they were, in their own right. This ambitious book reframes African American history, supplying the female Black experience as a much-needed perspective..

... illuminating.

... significant and timely.

This book will enlighten those interested in Black History, women’s history, and how the United States came to be the country it is today for worse and better.

Tubbs begins this biography of three remarkable women by stating her intention to honor the subjects as accomplished and inspiring people in their own right, not only as mothers of famous men, and follows through beautifully on this promise.

A welcome biography of three noted civil rights icons who were indelibly influenced by their mothers.

Educator Tubbs debuts with an engrossing triple biography of Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King Jr.; Louise Little, mother of Malcom X; and Berdis Baldwin, mother of James Baldwin. Though these women have been 'almost entirely ignored throughout history,' Tubbs writes, their teachings and approaches to motherhood 'were translated directly into their sons’ writing, speeches and protests.'.