5 books on how to honor ancestry and move beyond childhood trauma

by Jamilla Counts
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5 books
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Thicker than Water

A Memoir
Kerry Washington, 2023
I'm a truth-teller. Most books I've been drawn to start with questions in mind like "Who am I ", I'm hooked and curious. In "Thicker Than Water,” Kerry reveals a family secret that changed her life forever.  I related to this book on so many levels because I have faced some of the same situations. Finding out my mother was the child of Ahmad Jamal, the famous jazz pianist, and our family’s hidden secrets. I, too, suffered as a child. I’ve written about being raised in a household where I innately knew that something wasn't right. Like Kerry, I’ve been filled with many insecurities after the trauma of being sexually abused. Having the same questions in mind. Reading her book, I felt her pain. This is a must-read.

Trappings

Stories of Women, Power and Clothing
Tiffany Ludwig, Renee Piechocki, 2007
Over a period of six years, they talked with more than 500 women and girls, ages four through ninety-two, who ranged from office workers to drag-kings, stay-at-home moms to attorneys, fashion industry executives to elected officials, students to cowgirls. It is these women’s sensitive, funny, and always revealing thoughts that are at the heart of Trappings—a book that, although it begins with a question about clothing, is not about fashion at all. It’s all about issues women face related to power and identity. This book gives insight into how sex is used strategically in business and social settings and how clothing can be used to empower women by connecting them with cultural or personal history.

Black Women in Crisis

Iris M. Williams, Arethea Martin Green, 2022
"Black Women in Crisis” is a compilation of authors who have courageously shared their stories in hopes that other women learn from them and know that there is hope and life can change.

Heal Your Ancestral Roots

Release the Family Patterns That Hold You Back
Anuradha Dayal-Gulati, 2023
Anuradha Dayal-Gulati is a certified energy practitioner specializing in ancestral and emotional healing. Running across this book and reading "Heal Your  Ancestral Roots",  helped to remind me how to honor my ancestry and also move beyond it. Begin to help with my healing process. The book has many thoughtful and powerful exercises to grow and heal and remember our own connection to the past and yet, create a beautiful present and, ultimately our future. This will help anyone who has faced any kind of trauma in their life. A wonderful tool our future generations benefit from this beautiful guidebook.

In Search of Our Roots

How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past
Henry Louis Gates (Jr.), 2009
My dream is to one day be on Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s show. Being a historian myself. You never have enough knowledge about history. I used this guide to educate myself on tools to help with researching my family. I still have so many unanswered questions. Going back to my mother and grandfather Ahmad Jamal, the famous jazz musician being in the archives of the, "Jet Magazine" , from the history of my paternal sister Airicicka Gordon Taylor, cousin of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American who was visiting family for the summer in Money, Mississippi, from Chicago,. The photo of Till with his mother earlier that year, alongside Jet’s photo of his mutilated corpse, horrified the nation and became a catalyst for the bourgeoning civil rights movement.