Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez takes place in 1973 at the beginning of Civil Townsend’s career and in 2016 at the end of her career. Her voice is the narrator as she tells the story to her adopted daughter, Anne, as to why she did things the way she did throughout her life.
Civil, the Black daughter of the town’s daughter, began her first job as a nurse at the Montgomery Family Planning Center, in Montgomery, Alabama, believing it was important for people to have the ability to make choices about their sexual health. But at this federally funded health center that mainly served Black women and girls, she soon found out that many times patients were not being fully told what was happening to them and many people were being given medications that were not FDA approved. This included Civil’s first clients, 13 year old Erica and 11 year old India, sisters that Civil’s white boss had decided it was imperative they did not become pregnant, although there was no sign they were sexually active and India had not even begun menstruating. As Civil got to know these girls, she learned to love them and she did everything she could to help their family have a better life, including removing the girls from the Depo Provera shots that Civil had learned had caused cancer in animals. Soon her boss had misled the girls’ illiterate father and grandmother to sign papers to have the girls sterilized.
“Now, you know how some white folks feel about Black bodies. They think we can tolerate pain better than them…Some of them even thought syphilis couldn’t kill us. I picked up a cord on the side of the bed and pressed the buzzer over and over. A few minutes later, a nurse stuck her head in the door.
‘Have these patients been given something for their pain?’” Take My Hand, chapter 20
What happened to the girls was the worst pain in Civil’s life. What began as a case against the Montgomery Family Planning Center became a nation-wide case against the Federal Government as it was found that Hispanic women in California were being sterilized without their knowledge or consent. Women in North Carolina were going in for c-sections and also having their uteruses removed without consent. Mexican and Black women in Georgia were not getting needed medical care until they gave consent for sterilization.
This book is based loosely on the true case of Reif v. Weinberger. In June 1973, Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Reif, sisters aged 12 and 14, were sterilized without consent in Montgomery, Alabama. Take My Hand was awarded the 2023 NAACP Image Award of Literary Work-Fiction and BCALA Fiction Award.
I literally could not put this book down. It was well written and thoughtfully put together to include information about the Tuskegee Syphilis Study where between 1932 to 1943 Black men were infected with syphilis and studied to see what would happen to them. When penicillin was found to be the treatment for syphilis in 1943, it was not offered to these men and they were allowed to suffer and die. This story broke in 1972 by the Associated Press.
I think this story is important because it showcases the importance for all people to have the right to choose the right birth control for themselves and medical care for their body and to have all the proper information communicated to them whether they can read or not. We have come a long way and these stories of people that paid the price for our medical freedom are important for us to be thankful and continue to fight for complete medical freedom regardless of another person’s religious or personal beliefs. We are all individuals.
I got this book from my sister, Jamie Holloway. You can get your own copy of Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez on Amazon.
Read My Review on GoodReads:
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazing fiction story based on real life events. Dolen Perkins-Valdez had me turning pages almost faster than I could read them. This heart gripping story must be read.
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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 Christian, 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 Christian…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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