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Go,
Tell Michelle
African American Women Write to the New First Lady
Edited
Barbara A. Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram |
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Go, Tell Michelle Book Review
By Kam Williams
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This extraordinary
collection of letters to Michelle Obama says a great deal about
the lives, the hopes, prayers, fears, and aspirations of
African-American women today... We seem to recognize her as one
of our own. We are simultaneously proud of her, seek to protect
her, and to encourage her. And our expectations for her are
obviously very high...
So far, Michelle Obama is
serving to help us see ourselves at our best. We see validation
of our choices and our values. Even the decision to have her
mother accompany the family to the White House resonates with
many African-American women who have lived in three-generation
homes and know the burden of having a working mother.
The women who have written
letters in this collection hail from a broad spectrum of
backgrounds and are highly accomplished. So, too, is the
recipient. In Michelle Obama, we see reflected the face of
inclusion, the face of America as the proverbial land of
opportunity, equality and justice. Excerpted
from the Foreword by Dr. Muriel A. Howard, President of Buffalo
State College |
Over the course of the presidential
campaign, Michelle Obama was even more of a target than her husband. Whether
being quoted out of context as unpatriotic, lampooned on the cover of a
national magazine as a machine gun-toting terrorist, having her college
thesis combed for grammatical errors or being the subject of a variety of
unsubstantiated rumors, her desperate enemies futilely predicted that she
would be the cause of her husband's undoing.
Underreported by the mainstream media
was the reaction of black women to this mistreatment of Michelle. "We were
incensed when she was accused of being un-American," admit Barbara A. Seals
Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram, co-editors of
Go, Tell Michelle. To them, the New Yorker cartoon was the final
straw. "Black women everywhere felt the sting of indignation, decried this
caricature, and rushed to embrace this and defend this beautiful, graceful,
intelligent woman."
And in the wake of the election, they
immediately started soliciting other African-American females, "Uncrowned
Queens," for open letters of support for the incoming First Lady as a way
"to send her a special message, grounded in our common ancestry and in the
belief that our daughters have not only been inspired by her accomplishments
but empowered by her example."
The upshot of those efforts is a quite
evocative collage of heartfelt correspondence in poetry and prose ranging
from the intimate to the light and lyrical. Among the hundred contributors
are not only professors and professional writers but accomplished women from
all over the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean, and representing virtually
every walk of life, including teachers, students, a psychiatrist, a nurse, a
violinist, a vocalist, an entrepreneur, a dancer, a genealogist, a social
worker, a consultant and a country club president, to name a few.
I was particularly moved by the
simplicity of the entry by Shirley Hanshaw of Mississippi who shares her
favorite recipe for Pecan Pie. "I know that you and Barack are not
Southern," she starts, "nevertheless, I thought you might enjoy this
dessert. It is always a hit wherever I take it." Shirley goes on to let
Michelle know that "I have been praying for the safety of your husband and
your entire family ever since his candidacy [and] I will continue to pray
that God will surround all of you with a hedge of protection."
An impressive compendium of eloquent
messages which together paint a touching tapestry reflecting the depth of
sisters' emotional investment in our new First Lady.
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Dear
Michelle Obama….
A Preview by Christine Vidal
of “Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women’s Letters
to the New First Lady,”
Edited
by Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy
Brooks-Bertram
December 18, 2008
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The
voices of women whose stories are rarely told have been
gathered by two scholars at the University at Buffalo to
offer Michelle Obama messages of love, hope, admiration
and support as she becomes the United States’ first
African American First Lady.
The women’s words
are being compiled into a book, “Go, Tell Michelle:
African American Women’s Letters to the New First Lady,”
by Barbara Seals Nevergold, Ph.D., and Peggy
Brooks-Bertram, Dr.P.H., Ph.D., UB senior educational
specialists and co-founders of the Uncrowned Queens
Institute for Research and Education on Women at UB.
The book will be
published in January 2009 by SUNY Press/Excelsior
Editions (Albany, N.Y.). The goal is to have the book in
Michelle Obama’s hands by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20,
2009.
The project had its
genesis, Nevergold explains, in the 2008 presidential
campaign as she watched President-elect Barack Obama’s
journey to the White House gather momentum and his wife,
Michelle, come into her own as a presidential
candidate’s wife.
“Throughout the
election, it became apparent that African Americans were
becoming emotionally invested,” she says. “I felt such a
sisterhood with Michelle Obama and a kinship.
“At the end of the
election, I started to think, how can we as
African-American women share with her our feelings about
the new role she’s going to take?”
A week after the
election, Nevergold and Brooks-Bertram used the Internet
to send out a call for people to express their hopes and
advice for Michelle Obama through letters, poetry and
recipes. Starting with an Uncrowned Queens listserv they
maintain, their request spread across the country and
around the world.
“We were interested
in ordinary women who’ve fallen into historical
obscurity and who have never imagined themselves writing
a letter like this to the next First Lady,” says
Brooks-Bertram.
The response was
enormous. Hundreds and hundreds of letters poured in,
from professors and poets, playwrights and religious
leaders, musicians, retirees and ordinary women.
Eighth-grade students from Buffalo Prep sent letters.
Residents of Kenya, Cameroon, Liberia and countries in
the Caribbean sent letters. African Americans from
around the country as well as Native Americans sent
letters.
The messages were
as diverse as the senders, but overwhelmingly the
sentiments were of love and the desire to let Michelle
Obama know she is not alone in her trip to the White
House.
“There were so many
messages that said ‘we never thought we’d live to see
the day that a black man was elected president,’” says
Nevergold. “Many letters said their ancestors were
smiling down on this event.”
While only 100
letters will be published as part of “Go, Tell
Michelle,” Nevergold says all the letters they receive
will be included in an online digital repository
available at the Uncrowned Queens Web site. Nevergold
and Brooke-Bertram call the book an “excellent example
of digital literacy.”
“Technology is the
way to reach people,” says Brooks-Bertram. “Every letter
we received came via email, with the exception of one or
two.”
And the letters
continue to pour in.
As an acclaimed
international publisher of distinguished research and
notable works of general interest since 1966, SUNY Press
and its Center for Scholarly Communication are proud to
support the State University of New York’s commitments
to teaching, research, and public service. Through its
Excelsior Editions imprint, SUNY Press makes available
exceptional works for all readers and also showcases the
diversity and abiding energy of the peoples, histories,
and natural beauty of New York and the surrounding
regions.
The University at
Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public
university, a flagship institution in the State
University of New York system and its largest and most
comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students
pursue their academic interests through more than 300
undergraduate, graduate and professional degree
programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is
a member of the Association of American Universities.
Source:
University of Buffalo /
AfricanPressInternational
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Pre-Order
Go,
Tell Michelle
African American Women Write to the New First Lady
Edited
Barbara A. Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram |
|
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Request for Letters, Poems, and Recipes
Dear Michelle
Messages of Encouragement, Support and Love to our
new First Lady
Edited by The
Uncrowned Queens
On January 20,
2009, Michelle Obama will become the First Lady of the
United States. She follows in the footsteps of 43 other
women, most recently Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Hillary
Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush, who have held this
prestigious position before her. However, at the same
time Michelle Obama will also make a new path as she
becomes the first African American First Lady.
Throughout the nearly two-year presidential campaign of
her husband, President-elect Barack Obama, Michelle
Obama has demonstrated her intelligence, grace under
fire, tenacity, perseverance and indefatigable spirit.
As a wife, she has
supported her husband through the worst of times and the
best of times. In his own words, she is his "best
friend, love of my life and rock of our family." As a
mother, she has made it clear that her first priority
remains the well-being of her two young daughters. As a
daughter, she has shared stories of her close knit
family, giving us a glimpse into the environment that
nurtured her own development. Although her father is
not alive to share in the historic and transformative
events leading to the new role she will undertake, in
the true tradition of the extended African American
family, her mother is moving with her to the White
House. What an extraordinary tribute to the legacy
communicated by the proverbial saying, "It takes a
village to raise a child".
Many of us have
followed and participated, in some way, in this historic
election process from its inception. Our emotions have
run the gamut from distrust and disbelief to belief,
from despair to hope, from anger to elation and pride.
In President-elect Barack Obama and First Lady-elect,
Michelle Obama, we have an opportunity in which our hope
is revived, our faith is renewed and our spirits are
rejuvenated.
Millions of
Americans have shared their well-wishes and
congratulations with President-elect and Mrs. Obama.
The Uncrowned Queens Institute
(www.uncrownedqueens.com)
is requesting letters
from women in our community as an expression of our
support for the First Lady. As African American women
we want to send her a special message, grounded in our
common ancestry and in the belief that our daughters
have not only been inspired by her accomplishment but
empowered by her example. Letters to Michelle will
include messages that will encourage, support and can
take the form of a letter or a poem. The Uncrowned
Queens Institute will compile submissions into a
publication, which we plan to have ready by the
Inauguration.
We invite you to
join us in this exciting endeavor, which in itself is an
opportunity to participate in this historic moment in
time. Submissions should be between 350 -700 words (The
Institute reserves the right to edit submissions), send
copy to
uqi@buffalo.edu by December 1st. Completion of a
consent form, which will be sent to contributor and must
be signed and returned before submission is accepted for
publication.
Send questions to
uqi@buffalo.edu.
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posted 16
November 2008 |
