Opinions of a Wolf

The Real Help Reading Project–Helping Put The Help in its Historical Context

This reading project was co-founded by myself and Amy McKie.  Our goal is simply to read the books recommended by the Association of Black Women Historians as a response to the revisionist history found in The Help.  For more information, check out our intro posts (Amy’s, mine).

Schedule:
September 10th – A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight (Amanda, discussion)
September 24th – Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women , Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present by Jacqueline Jones (Amy, discussion)
October  8th – The Book of Night Women by Marlon James (Amy, discussion)
October 22nd – Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody (Amanda, discussion)
November 12th –  Like One of The Family: Conversations from a Domestic’s Life by Alice Childress (Amanda, discussion) PLUS giveaway of a copy courtesy of the publisher; US only on my blog, international on Amy’s
November 26th–Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household by Thavolia Glymph (Amy, discussion)
December 10th–The Street by Ann Petry (Amy, discussion)
January 14th–To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War by Tera Hunter (Amanda, discussion)
January 28th–Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely (Amanda, discussion)
February 22nd–Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis (Amanda, discussion)
February 28th–Wrap-up (Amanda, Amy)

The tentative plan is to review a fiction title on the second Saturday and a non-fiction title on the fourth Saturday of each month until we get through the list.

If you are interested in hosting the discussion for one of the books, please email Amy or I schedule it.

All Titles to be Covered:
Fiction:
Like One of The Family: Conversations from a Domestic’s Life, Alice Childress (Amanda, Amy)
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James (Amanda, Amy)
Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neeley (Amanda, Amy)
The Street by Ann Petry (Amanda, Amy)
A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight (Amanda, Amy)

Non-Fiction:
Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household by Thavolia Glymph (Amanda, Amy)
To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War by Tera Hunter (Amanda, Amy)
Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women , Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present by Jacqueline Jones (Amanda, Amy)
Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis (Amanda, Amy)
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody (Amanda, Amy)