55 pages • 1-hour read
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
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Chapters 2-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Denial of Our Existence”
Tubbs focuses on the decade after the women’s birth. Louise’s grandparents acquired land and built a family home, determined to maintain autonomy and independence. Louise followed the “guidance” of her female relatives. Her mother, aunt, and grandmother instilled in her resilience, creativity, and “self-determination”. She was an excellent student, educated at the Anglican school in Grenada where she developed a love for language, becoming multilingual. Through her family and education, she realized her ability to survive and sustain herself. Louise desired a life beyond colonial Grenada and was determined to confront life’s challenges as a Black woman. In 1917, she joined her uncle who had migrated to Montreal, Canada. Influenced by activist and pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, her uncle spread the word about Black liberation. Tubbs notes that Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association connects with the later development of the Nation of Islam. In Montreal, Louise found an opportunity to join activists and advocate for Black independence through her writing.
Alberta learned from her parents to be an activist, combining religious faith and commitment to human rights. Despite the racial terror that permeated the South, Reverend and First Lady Williams advocated for racial justice in their congregation. Alberta saw them as examples of resistance who exemplified the ideals of humanity and love. Alberta was involved in church activities and became a skilled musician, singing and playing the piano. She decided to pursue a teaching career to channel her love of art and reading. Despite access to resources, the family confronted racial terror as white supremacy intensified in the Jim Crow South. Violence and disenfranchisement initiated the Great Migration of Black people to the North. However, the Williams family remained in Atlanta, determined to fight for justice.
Berdis’s family also had a degree of economic autonomy through land ownership. When her father remarried after the death of her mother, Berdis moved with her older sister. She was a brilliant student and developed a passion for writing and poetry. Her education expanded her mind and resisted the racist representations of Black people. Berdis desired a life beyond Deal Island and joined the Great Migration wave to New York.
At a time when racism threatened Black women’s lives, Louise, Alberta, and Berdis used all available opportunities to pursue their passions and explore new possibilities for themselves.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Our Men and Marriages”
Black people who migrated to the North encountered similar racial discrimination. In the early 1920s, Berdis was living in New York, during the Harlem Renaissance. This artistic movement centralized Black culture and identity and Black women found ways to express and claim their identities. Berdis remained creative as a writer and poet, despite struggling financially. Through her first relationship, Berdis gave birth to her son, James, whose biological father remains unknown. Berdis was left alone to raise her son, who looked like her and brought her joy amidst her struggles. She worked to provide for James until she met and married David Baldwin, a preacher. Berdis and David saw an opportunity in each other to start anew. David provided for his family but discrimination limited his chances for social mobility. He was marked by the experience of Jim Crow racism as a boy, and his rage and despair controlled him. Berdis remained loving and calm when confronting his anger. The Great Depression that ended the Harlem Renaissance also affected their marriage.
Pursuing her career, Alberta continued her education as a boarding student and obtained a bachelor’s degree. She met a young preacher named Michael King, who, unlike her, had limited access to education. Michael was also marked by witnessing racial violence. The two fell in love, but Alberta’s family encouraged her to focus on her education and dreams, as laws prohibited married women from teaching. Still, Michael and Alberta’s bond remained strong. They married in 1926. Alberta encouraged Michael to complete his education and taught him herself. The couple moved into the Williams house and, following Alberta’s parents, they became leaders of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, continuing a legacy of faith and activism.
In Canada, Louise worked for a Black newspaper and continued her activism as a member of Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. Louise met Earl Little, a handsome Baptist minister. The two bonded over their common feelings of Black self-reliance and the struggle against white supremacy. The two married in 1919 and traveled across the US as activists, advocating for liberation. As their family grew, their financial struggles also increased. The threat of violence and intimidation followed them everywhere. Their marriage became tumultuous as Earl’s rage dominated.
Tubbs notes that circumstances of class, education, economic means, and family support affected all the couples’ lives.
Chapters 2-3 Analysis
Tubbs continues to counter The Erasure of Black Women’s Histories by focusing on the lives of Alberta, Louise, and Berdis as young women. Her emphasis on the early formation of their womanhood also illuminates Black Women’s Resistance Against Intersectional Oppression. She shows how Alberta, Louise, and Berdis pursued their independent lives, exploring new possibilities for themselves and forming their own families, countering the persistent erasure of their existence. Tubbs emphasizes their individuality and courage, and the formation of ideas that would later influence their children. Following the independence of the female figures of her family and the autonomy of her grandfather through landownership and craftsmanship, Louise learned the value of “self-determination” for a “liberated life” (43). Her family’s resistance to oppression instilled in Louise confidence and self-reliance, encouraging her education and her ability to provide for herself. As a young Black woman, Louise embraced independent life as a migrant in Montreal. She developed her political consciousness hinged on Black liberation and independence, following the ideology of Garveyism. Uncovering Louise’s early organizing endeavors, Tubbs depicts her as a passionate civil rights activist whose principles of resistance to oppression, Black self-determination, and pride are reflected in her son’s later political action.
As the book continues to establish its three main characters, Tubbs is able to make comparisons more rapidly. In this part, she draws connections between Louise’s and Berdis’s lives in terms of the economic autonomy of their families. Despite the threat of racial violence in Maryland, Berdis’s family also valued their independence through land ownership. Like Louise, Berdis also pursued her education as a form of resistance that allowed her to form her own identity and critical thinking, countering the dehumanizing racist stereotypes about Black women. Berdis also used the Great Migration wave as an opportunity to build an independent life for herself in New York while developing her own creative skills. Her love and passion for literature and art, reinforced by the Harlem Renaissance, are evident in James Baldwin’s life.
While Alberta led a more secure and privileged familial life, she developed her own identity and desires, also exemplifying Black Women’s Resistance Against Intersectional Oppression. Alberta began to form her racial consciousness as an activist through her parents’ “examples of resistance in the name of humanity and love” (49). Despite her relative privileges, Alberta also used her education as a means of resistance, being career-driven and determined to be a working woman. Contrasting Louise and Berdis’s path, Alberta followed her family’s example by remaining in the South during the Great Migration, adopting a stance of determination and resistance against racism in the South. Tubbs notes that her decision had a crucial impact on the course of the development of the civil rights movement, as her family joined other Black families who were beacons of the Black resistance against racism in the South. In doing so, they defined the freedom struggle throughout the country.
Examining the formation of the women’s families, Tubbs extends the theme of Black Women’s Resistance Against Intersectional Oppression, which interconnects with Black Motherhood and a Source of Radical Power. While navigating their own independent lives, the three women formed relationships and managed to grow families despite their struggles with class, gender, and racial discrimination. Tubbs focuses on Berdis’s struggles as a single mother and how her seeking of refuge in marriage led to further intersectional oppression in the form of domestic abuse toward herself and James. Tubbs depicts Berdis as the epitome of “Black love,” emphasizing her efforts to counter family abuse and the racist and sexist power structures around her by sustaining her family with love and humanity.
Tubbs also highlights contrasts. Alberta created her family with the love and support of her parents. Despite her own dreams and aspirations, Alberta chose to abandon her career against her parents’ wishes for marriage and motherhood. Instead of describing this choice as conventional, Tubbs stresses that her decision to nurture a peaceful married life and a loving family also constitutes a form of resistance. As Black familial bonds remained intertwined in a racist system that rendered them “fragile,” Alberta’s decisions reflect the “precious” value of Black families and relationships. Alberta’s family life was also defined by Black love. Despite the laws that forced her to reject working life, her marriage did not restrict her from pursuing her self-development. Alberta continued her studies and her activism, carrying on her parents’ legacy of fighting for racial justice.
Louise’s struggling family life resembles Berdis’s. Through her marriage, Louise found a partner in her work as a social justice activist that expanded her political and personal life through a growing family. As a couple, she and Earl were fervent advocates of Black pride and independence around the United States, but Tubbs illustrates how their union was defined by racial terror. Their constant persecution by white supremacist groups impacted their marriage and resulted in personal turmoil that harmed their marriage. Despite struggles, Louise exemplified resilience by resisting fear. By exploring the different aspects of the women’s married and family lives, Tubbs illustrates how factors like class, economic support, and education regulated how Louise, Alberta, and Berdis navigated their lives as Black women and mothers.
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