Today’s Black History Moment: I honor the many black women that have impacted my family in profound ways. When I first met Erica, I told her I descend from a long line of strong and powerful black women. My mother was the first in her family to graduate from college in 1980. She raised my sister and I while gaining her Master’s Degree in Education and now she is an accomplished author with her first novel, “The Age of Blessing”, that is receiving rave reviews across the country (link below). Both of my grandmothers raised eight children each. My maternal grandmother was so engaged in her community, the Governor of North Carolina proclaimed March 15, Inez Blackwell Day. (link below). But, this is no coincidence. To be black and a woman in this country requires a level of grit and determination that is worthy of praise. I can even look further back to my 4th Great Grandmother Jane Phillips, born in 1790 in Caswell County, NC. Jane was born a free black woman. She owned her home and land 15 years before the Civil War ended. She raised 5 children alone until around 1860 she was able to purchase her children’s father, Frank Mebane, an enslaved black man in Alamance County, NC. Frank would later take her surname and become Frank Phillips. They would continue to live as husband and wife for many years. #blackhistory #myhistory #blackwomen.
https://mascotbooks.com/…/buy-…/fiction/the-age-of-blessing/.
http://ncccha.blogspot.com/2007/03/inez-blackwell-day.html…