This week’s column shines a much-deserved light on three influential mothers who, in their own way, shaped our history.

Three Mothers, Three Preachers, Three Transformative Sons

“Louise Little, Alberta King, Berdis Baldwin.  Three strong Black women, each married to a preacher; each the mother of a man who preached … and changed history.  Their sons raised their voices for racial equality and fundamental human rights:  Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Baldwin.

In her book, The Three Mothers, Anna Malaika Tubbs writes: “Each woman was already living an incredible life that her children would one day follow.  Their identities as young Black girls in Georgia, Grenada and Maryland influenced the ways in which they would approach motherhood.  Their exposure to racist and sexist violence from the moment they were born would inform the lessons they taught their children.”  These women were persistent and resistant to those who would keep them down, in their “place,” as women, as Black women.”