What Mama Couldn't Tell Us about Love - by Brenda Richardson & Wade (Paperback)

About the Book

In the first major self-help book for African-American women designed to help heal the emotional legacy of slavery and institutional racism, the authors take a riveting look at the historical experience of African-American women and the disturbing impact it has had on their ability to attract and maintain relationships in the present.

Book Synopsis

"A wonderful gift to Black women. . . . Richardson and Wade, with pens dipped in abundant love, gracefully advise us as to the lessons of the past we must embrace and those we must discard, if we are to achieve true self-empowerment and emotional liberation." -- Darlene Clark Hine, Ph.D., coauthor of A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America

In this provocative rethinking of the African American woman's experience, Brenda Lane Richardson and Dr. Brenda Wade ask their Black American sisters to consider this question: "What lessons about love and intimacy were passed down from your foremothers to you?" By exploring the emotional legacy shared by all African American women whose ancestors were enslaved, the authors examine the impact of this history on romantic relationships between today's Black women and men--and reveal how the power of inherited beliefs can both heal and strengthen these bonds.

This remarkably uplifting book will show you how to move toward the emotional freedom you seek. It offers spiritual wisdom from well-known African Americans, ways of enhancing the coping skills and strengths your forebears harnessed to help them survive, and the certainty that emotional emancipation is your birthright. Mama may not have told you all this in so many words--but there is no doubt that she would want you to use the positive messages inherent in the African American experience to create a better life.

From the Back Cover

In this provocative rethinking of the African American woman's experience, Brenda Lane Richardson and Dr. Brenda Wade ask their black American sisters to consider this question: "What lessons about love and intimacy were passed down from your foremothers to you?" By exploring the emotional legacy shared by all African American women whose ancestors were enslaved, the authors examine the impact of this history on romantic relationships between today's black women and men--and reveal how the power of inherited beliefs can both heal and strengthen these bonds.

This remarkably uplifting book will show you how to move toward the emotional freedom you seek. It offers spiritual wisdom from well-known African Americans, ways of enhancing the coping skills and strengths your forebears harnessed to help them survive, and the certainty that emotional emancipation is your birthright. Mama may not have told you all this in so many words--but there is no doubt that she would want you to use the positive messages inherent in the African American experience to create a better life.

Review Quotes

"A provocative blend of scholarly wisdom and woman-to-woman insight that allows sisters to closely examine their choices in intimate relationships. " -- Julia A. Boyd, author of In the Company of My Sisters

"A powerful, moving, and life-enhancing book that will help readers reconnect with the past and move forward into the future. It will change lives and hearts." -- Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger

"A wonderful gift to black women. Our foremothers created a dynamic culture to overcome a history of pain. Richardson and Wade, with pens dipped in abundant love, gracefully advise us as to the lessons of the past we must embrace and those we must discard, if we are to achieve true self-empowerment and emotional liberation." -- Darlene Clark Hine, Ph.D., coauthor of A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America

"What Mama Couldn't Tell Us About Love forces us to wade in the water' of the grief and pain associated with the peculiar institution of slavery, and to confront our own denial about the emotional legacy of enslavement. Richardson and Wade offer us psychological baptism, deliverance from isolation, despair and old prejudices, psychic healing, and purification of the spirit. Lord knows, America needs this book." -- Gwendolyn Goldsby Grant, Ph.D., author of The Best Kind of Loving

"What Mama Couldn't Tell Us About Love is like having a long afternoon on the porch talking with an old, dear sister-friend about things of the past and present and matters of the heart. Richardson and Wade remind us in down-to-earth, readable, practical prose that we intuitively know how to heal ourselves and one another. Women of all backgrounds will rush to read their wisdom." -- Charlotte Pierce-Baker, Ph.D., author of Surviving the Silence