Publication date:
16 December 2009Length of book:
252 pagesPublisher
AltaMira PressISBN-13: 9780759113190
Moving the Rock portrays several generations of African American women whose families migrated from the South to the Pacific Northwest in the 1940s and 1950s. As members of a small storefront church in central Seattle, these women—grandmothers, mothers, daughters—lean on their faith and church to face the challenges of poverty, racism, ignorance, and health. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it is painfully obvious that many of us know little about what it is like to be poor and Black in the United States. These powerful, profound stories bring this group of women and their problems, and joys, vividly and movingly to life.
Abrums, an anthropologist and registered nurse, examines the lives of African American women members of the Morning Sun Church in the Central District of Seattle. Abrums spent 18 months observing and interviewing the women of Morning Sun, and the resulting stories are deeply engaging as individual narratives and compelling when taken as a whole. The work positively sparkles with the voices of these women as they discuss their struggles, joys, beliefs, health, and families. This book is undoubtedly academic, yet there is much here for the nonacademic reader to enjoy, too. Verdict:Engaging, beautifully written, surprising, and challenging in the best way possible, this is highly recommended for its fine, compelling writing as well as for its profound subject. Scholars of women's studies, religious studies, and anthropology should take particular note of this title, but it is strongly recommended to interested general readers as well.