FROM THE SOUL: Stories of Great Black Parents and the Lives They Gave Us

Former children's advocate Harris believes that the black family is the most "maligned institution in America"; her response is this collection of 10 moving tributes to parents from their successful—and grateful—children, a "thank-you card" to black mothers and fathers and a celebration of familial love and sacrifice. In "A Time for All Things," a physician recalls her widowed father's extraordinary will in raising his five children alone, juggling jobs as a carpenter and a minister. Even in the face of spiritual struggle in the segregated South, Rev. Isaiah Derius Bagwell taught his children grace and strength. "No one can ride your back unless it's bent," he'd say. The narrator of "The Way Things Were" recounts a story of personal and political struggle in Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa: Phola's parents were ANC freedom fighters forced to spend much of their lives in exile. While they were fierce in their attacks on the racist South African government, Phola also witnessed the tenderness of their love for each other. The tales are honest reflections on black families, "warts and all," as the powerful, complicated, sustaining institutions they are. Harris's idea is bold, and the outcome is beautiful. This is a quiet and powerful response to those who would venture to say that the solid black family unit doesn't exist. (Oct.)