Gather Together In My Name by Maya Angelou is a biography that takes place directly after World War III when there is hope for white supremacy to subside and more opportunity to come, but people who had more money while they created goods for war, suddenly lost those jobs. And since there was no real change in education, social norms, or expectations, change did not happen.
17-year-old Marguerite, or Rita, has just given birth to her son, Guy. With nothing more than a high school diploma, she must learn how to make her way in the world as a single black mother, knowing she wants something different than what she knows.
“If the tables could have turned at that instant, I would gladly have consigned every white person living and the millions dead to hell where the devil was blacker than their fears of blackness and more cruel than forced starvation.”
In this nonfiction memoir, Rita travels from San Francisco to Los Angeles, San Diego to Stamps, Arkansas and back to San Francisco, to Stockton and then to Oakland. She worked as kitchen help, a cook, waitress, a madam, store clerk, dancer, fry cook, prostitute and a seller of stolen goods. She has her heart broken a number
I think if I read this book 5 more times, I would find more details each time that were fascinating. This book is from my own personal collection. You can get your own copy of Gather Together In My Name by Maya Angelou on Amazon.com.
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Read My Review on GoodReads:
Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rita dreamed of a relationship that would save her. Much like many young people do. Someone that will be whatever we dream we need to fulfill, whatever it is that we don’t see in ourselves. She wanted a love that was heavenly, spiritual and every now and then, physical.
“Butter-colored, honey-brown, lemon-and olive skinned. Chocolate and plumb-blue, peaches and cream. Cream. Nutmeg. Cinnamon. I wonder why my people describe our colors in terms of something good to eat.”
In Gather Together In My Name by Maya Angelou we watch Rita learn that she needs to learn to love herself because the people she has relied on have not always had her best interest in mind. But she has learned to keep her head held high and keep moving forward. You can’t change society, but you can learn how to be strong.
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My name is Summer. That is how you can call me. I hope that I am a blessing to you. I am not perfect. I will fall again. But I am forgiven. For anyone reading this that isn’t a Christian, unapologetically, I am a Jesus Follower, but I believe there is room for lots of beliefs and religions in the world. It is not my intent to offend people with different beliefs than I have and I would be open to open-minded conversations with no goals of changing anyone’s mind, but sharing information. If you are interested in becoming a Jesus Follower…Do you know Jesus? Do want the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you understanding and salvation? Ask Him. Want someone to pray with you? Contact me.
If you would like to know Jesus as your friend, but want to make this amazing commitment by yourself please pray something like this: Thank you Jesus that You are the Son of God, the God that created heaven and earth. Thank you Jesus that You came to earth in the form of a man so that You would be able to empathize with my humanity. Thank You that You did this in order to fulfill the promises You made at the foundation of the world. I realize that I am a sinner and do things that hurt myself and keep myself away from you. Thank You that You died for my sins so that You could defeat death and bring me into Your life. Please forgive me. I ask You to be Lord of my life. I ask you to heal my hurts and show me what my new life, empowered by You looks like. Thank You for Your mercy.
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