Happy Day After Christmas! And happy first day of Kwanzaa!! Today is Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. Today we are going to talk about books we have read that celebrate the meaning of Umoja.
When I put umoja with a book title, the one that sticks out the most is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. The young journalist, Skeeter would not have had the story for the book without the help of the other women. One womans voice could not tell the full and complete story. She needed the unity of a community of black women agreeing to tell their stories to make the book complete.
Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town…
That is umoja!!
For this Monday tell me…What book have you read that celebrates maintaining unity in the family, community, nation or the race?
Happy Kwanzaa!
Mocha Girl Alysia
