This book is dedicated to my mother, Verna M. Jackson; my sister, Lynn S. Jackson; my grandmothers, Eleanor Christine Macklin Mitchell and Virginia Jefferson Jackson Rowe; my children, Katani, Nathaniel, and Mitchell; and the women who bring us forth:

Sarah Farrar

Francis Jones

Amanda Jones

Maude J. Macklin

Betsey Maclin

Frances Maclin

Daisy M. Mitchell

Luvenia Daughtery

Sandra Daugherty

Grace Macklin

Grace Gee

Harriet Macklin

Marsha M. Thomas

Vera Macklin

Sally Macklin

Teresa Hutchinson

Deanne Hutchinson

Doris Mitchell

Clara Mitchell

Sally Breedlove

Dicey Lee Waller

Alice Jefferson

Morning Hundley

Celestia H. Jackson

Jennie Dickerson

Mary J. Kesee

Martha J. Womack

Marnice Tolber

Elizabeth Mills

Barbara Dugger

Gennifer Dugger

Jackie Martin

Anne Taylor

Carol Taylor

Veronica Norwood

Dr. Jeanette Dates

Doris Brunot

Kay Drayton

Jewell Campbell

Barbara Golden

Juanita Wilson

Betty Nunn

Jean Smith

Shirley Anderson

Bertha Blow

Mary Holman

Alicia Allen

Carol Miller

Janette Hopkins

Carolyn Tubman

Twilah Grant

Phyllis Shelton

Dianne Claiborne

Dr. Nina Rawlings

Helen Bentley

Eula Gray

Patricia Jessamy

Sarah Taylor

Martha Allen

Irvina Mallory

Elise Mason

Carol Carter

Carrie Dorom

Marylin Washington

Edna Mae Greer

Thelma Jackson

Rosie Hutchinson

Gwynn Tartar

Ada Lovick

Nancy Barrick

Bernice Beaird

Ella Edemy

Olivia Dixon

Candace Simms

Camay C. Murphy

Phyllis Alston

Eliza Johnson

Rosalee Smith

Jacquelyn Jackson

Reba Robinson

Ruby Fuller

Gladys Despaigne

Delores Lewis

Naomi McGadney

Regine Jackson

Marie Ostine

Patricia D. Ouisley

 

 

For all angel is not’ing more dan de shark well goberned.

—OLD FLEECE, MOBY-DICK