Elev8 Exclusive
Pastor Jomo K. Johnson penned his new tome “Call Tyrone: Why Black Women Should Remain Single Or… “ in response to what he witnessed within his North Philadelphia flock.
Make sure that you read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
The concept of the African woman as mother goes much deeper than the immediate context of antebellum slave life or even the tribal life that she knew before her transfer to the Americas. This reality is spiritual and theological to the very core of everything we know about God, religion, and spirituality. The location of the Garden of Eden, the place in which the first man and woman were created, in which all three of the major religious faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam derive their origin, has been debated by theologians and anthropologists for centuries. But new scientific data along with long cherished Biblical scholarly studies seems to coalesce to the conclusion that our first parents derived from Africa.
Africa has long been considered the cradle of human civilization. In the early 1970′s, anthropologists discovered the oldest human skeleton in East Africa. This human fossil remains one of the best preserved human remnants on record being found in Hadar, Ethiopia. With this information, and also recent findings from scientists such as Cambridge University’s Andrea Manica and Simon Armitage from the University of London.
It should be no surprise that the black mother – having her roots traced back to the very matrix of creation, has been embedded with such a distinctly unbreakable maternal disposition, even in the face of such pandemic abuse and objectification.
Make sure that you read Brooke Valentine’s commentary on her new song inBrooke Valentine Explains “Forever” For Elev8 Readers
MOTHER OF A MOVEMENT
History gives witness that at the most critical moment of black history an African-American woman was at the forefront. Entire movements that have saved the lives of thousands, freed an innumerable number of those in bondage, fought for the rights of the oppressed – have been amazingly birthed by black women. And when one connects the Theo-spiritual origin of Eve: being the mother of all living, these historical accounts only give further witness that the African woman is to be not only the mother of men, but the mother of life giving movements that are designed to liberate and empower men. Similar to the celibate and naturally barren Catholic Saint Mother Theresa, often in time, the black woman’s greatest maternal seed has been those she has served through historic movements.
Make sure that you read Marvin Sapp’s inspiring blog post about forging ahead in your dreams in Dreams Can Be Realized If You Try!
Harriet Tubman was one of our mothers. Although never giving birth through her own womb, she would yet beget countless generations through her underground railroads. After living as a slave under the constant tyranny of being beaten by masters, enduring violent seizures and narcoleptic attacks as the byproduct, Tubman’s suffering would be the soil by which “Moses” her alter ego would be formed. After escaping from her captors in 1849, “Moses,” not content with her own freedom, sought the liberty of her other family members. It would be on a cold December night in 1850 that her first pilgrimage into the south began the beginning of a movement that would go to secure the freedom of at least 70 slaves – forever free by their mother. And to think –this mother would never have children.
Zora Neale Hurston was one of our mothers. Labeled by many critics as “generations ahead of her time,” she would shed light on the black woman’s experience through her powerful literary gift. Hurston’s essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” written in 1928, is a powerful and life-changing work, standing out and above the usual embittered rhetoric of her day. Through her writings, including her most famous novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Hurston, in her own voice, argued for equality and civil rights with such skill and cunning that most of her contemporaries didn’t even catch it. And even now – 50 years following her passing, a new generation of thinkers are being challenged by her writings, seeking to provoke and conjure up the same spirit of literary contemplation, communication, and call to action as she. And to think –this mother would never have children.
Rosa Parks was one of our mothers. Her name is now synonymous with the idea of movement. The name of this precious yet frail woman would become indelibly impressed upon the pages of history during the black civil rights movement. Her stand for equality on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955 would be the catalyst that would give birth to the greater civil rights movement of the 50’s and 6o’s. And to think –this mother would never have children.
What do you think? Tomorrow we will have another part of this spectacular chapter. Let us hear you! What do you think? Like us on Facebook and tell us your thoughts.
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“Call Tyrone: Why Black Women Should Remain Single Or..” [EXCERPT PART 3] was originally published on elev8.com
