Day Two

I am very excited about the buzz surrounding Black History Month in our community. We must pick up the mantel and carry on the tradition of sharing our stories. I have been reading various books throughout the past year or so. I finished two books in January that referenced historical figures. I had no idea how much I would enjoy historical fiction, but I did.

You have got to add The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies to your list. Reading The Personal Librarian led me to read The First Ladies. What I liked about each is that they allowed me to see the world in which these notables lived and the context in which they overcame limiting circumstances.

In The Personal Librarian, Belle deCosta Greene was a trailblazer; she became J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian. What was so intriguing about her story is that she was a Black woman who passed. The First Ladies was also intriguing because it chronicled the friendship between Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt. The former became known as the “First Lady of the Struggle,” and the latter was the First Lady of the United States. I learned so much about each of these historical figures. While each of these women was incredible and driven, I became fascinated with Ms. Bethune’s life. I remember the scene from Six Triple Eight where Ms. Bethune visited Ms. Roosevelt to encourage her to consider the women of the 6888 for deployment. That was intriguing enough, and then to find out through The First Ladies that they had a decades-long friendship was shocking and fascinating!

I look forward to finding out more about Ms. Bethune through her granddaughter’s book, The Bethune Blueprint: Transforming Your Life Using the Lessons of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.