In My Grandmother's House by Yolanda Pierce

Among all the church mothers, she was the one with the biggest list of “thou shall nots,” the most vocal when young women appeared to violate any of the unwritten rules. Growing up, I felt Mother Johnson unfairly singled me out for attention.

The Divine has been showing up at the kitchen tables of Black women for a long time. Pierce tells stories that center the experiences of those living on the underside of history, teasing out the tensions of race, spirituality, trauma, freedom, resistance, and memory.Ī grandmother's theology carries wisdom strong enough for future generations. Now, in the pages of In My Grandmother's House, Pierce reckons with that tradition, building an everyday womanist theology rooted in liberating scriptures, experiences in the Black church, and truths from Black women's lives. Born on a former cotton plantation and having fled the terrors of the South, Pierce's grandmother raised her in the faith inherited from those who were enslaved. In a world hostile to Black women's bodies and spirits, they had to be. The church mothers who raised Yolanda Pierce, dean of Howard University School of Divinity, were busily focused on her survival. It's time to get to know that God.What if the most steadfast faith you'll ever encounter comes from a Black grandmother? Pierce tells stories that center the experiences of those living on the underside of history, teasing out the tensions of race, spirituality, trauma, freedom, resistance, and memory.A grandmother's theology carries wisdom strong enough for future generations. 'What if the most steadfast faith you'll ever encounter comes from a Black grandmother?The church mothers who raised Yolanda Pierce, dean of Howard University School of Divinity, were busily focused on her survival.

In My Grandmother's House by Yolanda Pierce