When Black People Stand in the way of Black History..

As many of you are aware, I am certainly a Black History Buff - and most definitely an amateur genealogist and some may even call me the family griot....

For nearly two decades I've been tracing my family lineage - specifically, my paternal roots.

The one person who has been most elusive in my search, is my great-grandmother, Chappo Robinson.

A year ago, a reader who had just finished Nowhere is a Place, decided to do a little sleuthing on my behave and uncovered a marriage record for Chappo and her groom, Samuel Elliott.

As you can imagine, I was over the moon with happiness.

The record indicated the names of Chappo's parents (T.M. Robinson and Louise White) and Lawdy-be - her daddy, my great-great grandfather was man of the cloth!

Reverend T. M. Robinson, was a minister of the Cotton Avenue Baptist Church in Macon Georgia. In 1887 lead the first congregation of The First Baptist Church located at 595 New Street. He died in in December 1895. The Macon Telegraph announced his transition in the December 14th edition, under the article title: Death of a Prominent Negro.

Fast forward one year later, and the very same angel (Valerie Beaudrault) sends me some Freedman Bank Registration Cards, which not only lists the names my gg-grandparents, but the names of their children (minus Chappo) as well as the names of my gg-grandmothers, siblings!

By now you must be scratching your and wondering why it is I titled this post the way I did.

Okay, well in January of 2010 when I received the first bit of news from Valerie, I sent an email to The First Baptist Church, (now led by Pastor James W. Goolsby, Jr.) asking if they had any additional information that would help me with my search. Information like, what does T.M. stand for? Where is T.M. buried...etc..

Since then, (one year later) I have emailed and called a number of times - and if anyone from The First Baptist Church responded -- then my wall responded!

Now, let me ask you - how does it look for a faith-based organization, which claims to be committed to service to blatantly ignore the continuous requests from the actual descendant of one of their founding ministers???

Is that "Christian-Like" behavior?

Their refusal to respond to my queries - makes me think -- that they think - they have something to lose by doing so............

Ya'll stay tuned...I think this is going to get very interesting.......

Bernice L. McFadden

Hanging on by a thread...of steel.

So we're nearing the end of the first month of the new year.

The end of the month is always a source of great contention and anxiety for me. As you all know, the end of one month signals the beginning of another and of course that means its time to pay bills.

I am happy to announce that I have claimed success once again....I don't know how I do it....but it gets done over and over again - albeit - by the very skin of my teeth.

For the last twelve months I have been literally hanging on by a thread. But that thread has the strength of steel.

Before you think that this is an "oh-woe-is-me" post --- it's not -- it's a post about gratitude, faith and endurance!

Just days before Christmas, I hopped an American Airlines flight to Columbus, Ohio where I was met by the open arms of my cousins. I stayed with them for an entire month and during those 30 days, they made sure that I was clothed, fed, housed and loved.

I felt reborn. This new energy fueled my creativity and for the first two weeks, I wrote every single day.

At the end of the second week, I received some news that sent me over the edge. You know the type of news that prompts statements like:

F%$k it...I'm done!

And that's what I told my family. I said, quite emphatically, that I was over and done with this entire writing thing. How much pain and disappointment can one woman take!?

I feel like I've been fighting a useless war. I'm tired. Beat down. Look -- see my white handkerchief? I surrender....UNCLE!

I vowed to go home and apply for a nice, safe job with the post office.

I was handed tissue, poured a glass a wine and then graced with expressions that conveyed the following:

"Who do you think you're fooling? Certainly not us! Imagine you...pushing postage stamps for a living. Ha!"

"You and I both know that this writing thing is exactly what you were put here to do. We all have our seasons. Suck it up Bean...! (That's what they call me) Keep your eye on the sparrow - keep your faith in your God....buckle down and weather the storm...fair weather is on the way!"

And true to their words - fair weather did arrive in the form of the El Gouna Residency, The Fiction Honor Award from the BCALA and the NAACP Image Award Nomination.

On top of all of that wonderful news, I continue receive inspirational messages from those familiar to me as well as those people who only know me through my work.

This of course brings me great joy and helps to make the "bad" days seem not so dark and unforgiving.

So to all of you, I say THANK YOU!

And to those of you who feel as if you're barely scraping by and/or hanging on by a thread... just think of that thread as a strand of steel, and tighten your grip.

Bernice L. McFadden

NAACP IMAGE AWARDS....

GLORIOUS was nominated for an NAACP IMAGE AWARD for OUTSTANDING LITERARY WORK (Fiction)!

I'm thrilled to share this honor with:


A Taste of Honey
Jabari Asim
Broadway Books

Getting to Happy
Terry McMillan
Penguin Group

Till You Hear From Me
Pearl Cleage
Ballantine Books/One World

Wench
Dolen Perkins
Amistad





So now what....Well, we'll we need your VOTE....only NAACP members are allowed to vote. So if you're a member, please cast your vote! If you're not a member, I encourage you to become one!

Bernice L. McFadden

Wordless Wednesday

Bernice L. McFadden

Run Tell That!

I received lovely news today...Glorious will be receiving the 2011 Literary Award in Fiction from The Black Caucus of The American Library Association!

I am honored that Glorious will be recognized and celebrated along with the following authors whose books will also receive awards from The BCALA:

Literary Award First Novelist Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation to Unfinished Blues by Harold Battiste and Karen Celestan

Literary Award NF Honor book John Oliver Killens: by Keith Gilyard

Literary Award NF Honor book In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance by Wilbert Rideau

Literary Award Non-Fiction - The Other Wess Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

Next month is Black History Month and I urge you to have your church, school and organization participate in The National African American Read-In.

I had an event here in Columbus, Ohio and autographed about twenty books. So if you live in or around Columbus or know a Book Lover who does - head on over to:

Barnes & Noble
1739 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH 43212

And purchase an autographed copy of Glorious and/or Sugar.

And of course -- please take a moment to make this post SOCIAL by sharing it with as many folks as possible.

Until next time...............

Love there,

B

Bernice L. McFadden

OH-IO!

It can't just be me -- but does the Ted Williams Story give you chills? Is his not one of the best FEEL GOOD STORIES you've heard in a very long time?

If you don't know about Ted Williams then you must be living under a rock.

Watch the VIDEO

Funny enough, all of this has happened while I'm here in Columbus, Ohio - writing and hanging with family.

I am beyond happy for this man -- and I can't wait to see what he does next!


So, this Saturday, January 8th at 2PM, I will be reading from GLORIOUS at Barnes and Noble located at:

1739 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH 43212

I hope you come out. I will be raffling off autographed books written by some amazing authors!

And finally, I received some very wonderful news today. I will be spending an entire month of June in Egypt at the El Gouna Writers Residency....is it possible to be BEYOND excited? If so...than I am!


Love there,

Bernice

Bernice L. McFadden

A Slice of Heaven in 2011

The title of this post comes from DeAnna of  The Literary Ladies Book Club and I have adopted it as my mantra.

Last night was the first "Old-Years-Eve" I experienced away from my home and immediate family. And it was also the first time in more years than I care to mention - that I was awake to greet the New Year!

Professionally, 2010 was fruitful. Physically and Family-Wise -- it was severely lacking.

I try very hard not to make New Years resolutions - but I have cosigned to the fact that I will make an effort to be a better me in 2011.

I have been in Ohio since the 22nd of December and I am pleased to announce that during my time here I have exercised every day and more importantly - I've worked consistently on my new novel!

I am coming to to the end of the second draft of the manuscript and suspect that I will be completely done by March.

The novel - which is titled: Gathering of Waters - will be published in 2012.

I am very, very excited about the possibilities that 2011 holds - and would love for you to share with me what it is you hope 2011 will bring to you and yours.

So here we are, here we all are - sitting on the rim of a new year and new decade. I wish you all peace, light, health and happiness....................

Love there,

B

Bernice L. McFadden