Force of Beauty
A Newark Family Memoir
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Force of Beauty
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Narrated by:
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Mikki Taylor
About this listen
My family. My Newark.
The story of three generations of Black women, one extraordinary friendship, and a not-often recalled history of the city that made them.
In Force of Beauty, Mikki Taylor, editor-at-large of Essence magazine and longtime activist, introduces us to her gifted grandmother, Bessie, her glamorous mother, Modina, and how Modina’s friendship with the legendary Sarah Vaughan shaped Mikki’s childhood. Taylor’s mini-memoir is a tribute to Newark in the '50s and '60s, of cool jazz clubs and close-knit neighborhoods, a handsome house on Avon Avenue, and one family’s tale of perseverance and ingenuity in a city they all loved.
At a time when Black women were marginalized, disrespected, overlooked, and unseen, Bessie and Modina showed Mikki how beauty and style can be a force for good.
The recording includes an introduction by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and a reading by Mayor Baraka of the poem his father, the esteemed Amiri Baraka, wrote about the Newark rebellion, which Taylor discusses living through as a young girl.
©2021 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC.Listeners also enjoyed...
Joyful lecture
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This was a quick listen but packed with many facets of what life was like for any black person growing up in that era - housing, jobs, health care, police brutality - many things a reminder that inequalities unfortunately still exist all these decades later.
You can never cease to admire that despite every obstacle placed before the black race, the resourcefulness and resiliency to overcome and succeed never fails to be admired.
Credit should also be given to Ed Sullivan who never bowed down to any of the racists who wanted to keep his shows all white and in that way brought many an act to a wider, whiter and international audience.
The only downside for me was the author's narration style and tone but otherwise a great listen.
Interesting insight
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