Anna Malika Tubbs' book, The Three Mother's, gives the reader a background of the mothers of three influential Black men who were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin. These men absorbed the passion of justice
…more for the Black man from their mothers who lived during Jim Crow. These women not only saw the cruelty but experienced it first hand. Their sons also saw and experienced those cruelties yet approached their fight for equality in such different ways. In doing her research, Ms. Tubbs' was faced with having none of these mothers and sons alive to be able to hear first hand information, both factual and emotional. Although the factual was gotten from historians and personal interviews of remaining family members, the emotional bond between mother and son, the unspoken was lost. Perhaps if the scheduled interview with all three sons in one room could have taken place, it would have greatly added to the extensive research which she had done. Unfortunately, the assassination of Malcolm X happened two days prior to what would have been a historic interview by Kenneth Clark.
Through narratives of the beginnings of all three men and the tribulations their mothers faced, this gave me a perspective that no history or civics class could ever impart in students.
Ms. Tubbs' structure of her book reminds me of a dissertation with the conclusion chapter as her defence. After finishing reading this book, I was left with more questions. Perhaps that is the mark of a book whose topic has never been written before! (less)
