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Here, for the first time, is the story of the life of this extraordinary pioneer, told by his niece and grandniece, the award-winning television journalist Carol Jenkins and her daughter Elizabeth Gardner Hines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn at a time when the bitter legacy of slavery and Reconstruction still poisoned the lives of black Americans, Gaston was determined to make a difference for himself and his people. His first job, after serving in the celebrated all-black regiment during World War I, bound him to the near-slavery of an Alabama coal mine-but even here Gaston saw not only hope but opportunity. He launched a business selling lunches to fellow miners, soon established a rudimentary bank-and from then on there was no stopping him. A kind of black Horatio Alger, Gaston let a single, powerful question be his guide- What do our people need now? His success flowed from an uncanny genius for knowing the answer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCombining rich family lore with a deep knowledge of American social and economic history, Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Hines unfold Gaston's success story against the backdrop of a century of crushing racial hatred and bigotry. Gaston not only survived the hardships of being black during the Depression, he flourished, and by the 1950s he was ruling a Birmingham-based business empire. When the movement for civil rights swept through the South in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gaston provided critical financial support to many activists.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the time of his death in 1996, A. G. Gaston was one of the wealthiest black men in America, if not the wealthiest. But his legacy extended far beyond the monetary. He was a man who had proved it was possible to overcome staggering odds and make a place for himself as a leader, a captain of industry, and a far-sighted philanthropist. 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Her work does not so much 'unearth' the past as pull it respectfully out of the depths of the sea. I am deeply moved by this book, and by her journey.\"—Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Tara Roberts first caught sight of a photograph at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History depicting the scuba and underwater archaeology group Diving With a Purpose, it called out to her. Here were Black women and men strapping on masks, fins, and tanks to explore Atlantic Ocean waters along the coastlines of Africa, North America, and Central America, seeking the wrecks of slave ships long lost in time. 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Tubbs’s book stands against the women’s erasure, a monument to their historical importance.”\u003cbr\u003e―The New Yorker\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Tubbs' connection to these women is palpable on the page ― as both a mother and a scholar of the impact Black motherhood has had on America. Through Tubbs' writing, Berdis, Alberta, and Louise's stories sing. Theirs is a history forgotten that begs to be told, and Tubbs tells it brilliantly.\"\u003cbr\u003e― Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist and National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMuch has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, about Alberta King's son Martin Luther, and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them. 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These women combined their ancestral spiritual beliefs from West Africa with local herbal rituals and therapeutic remedies to create conjure, forging a secret well of health and power hidden to their oppressors and many of the modern-day staples we still enjoy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn The Conjuring of America, Black feminist philosopher Lindsey Stewart exposes this vital contour of American history. In the face of slavery, Negro Mammies fashioned a legacy of magic that begat herbal experts, fearsome water bearers, and powerful mojos—roles and traditions that for centuries have been passed down to respond to Black struggles in real time. And when Jim Crow was born, Granny Midwives and textile weavers leveled their techniques to protect our civil and reproductive rights, while Candy Ladies fed a generation of freedom crusaders.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSourcing firsthand accounts the of enslaved, dispatches from the lore of Oshun, and the wisdom of beloved Black women writers, Stewart proves indisputably that conjure informs our lives in ways remarkable and ordinary. Above all, The Conjuring of America is a love letter to the magic Black women used to sow messages of rebellion, freedom, and hope.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Grassrootz Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46890243883181,"sku":"9781538769515","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0280\/9243\/2481\/files\/9781538769515.jpg?v=1784750207"}],"url":"https:\/\/grassrootzbookstore.com\/collections\/biography-memoir.oembed?page=3","provider":"Grassrootz Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}