Author: Iris Formey Dawson
It Is Deeper Than The Skin We Are In
Pull the Emergency Brake
An Account of Donald Trump’s Coronavirus High-Speed Chase For over a month, I’ve felt like someone handcuffed in the back seat of a police cruiser careening through the streets—with a toddler behind the wheel. Powerless to do little more than yell, scream, occasionally throw myself against the car window, and …
The Mysterious Life of Henrietta Baker
A GREAT-GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER’S MUSING When genetic technology tells you you’re not who you’ve always been told you are, somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do. No, my daddy is my father and my mama is my mother. Like most genealogical quandaries, mine goes much deeper than that. It, like many African-American familial …
JUST ONE
A Reflection at 60* Sixty years ago yesterday just one woman made just one decision that imprinted far more than just one person—not only has it informed my path my entire life, but also it’s deeply affected many in my extended family. For apparently just one reason (incompetence or racism: …
MAKE ME READ
Then, Now, and Always I’ve been smitten with words since the age of three when I’d repeatedly beg my mother to “MAKE ME READ.” Yes, even in early 1960s Baxley, Georgia, years before ever setting foot in a classroom, I demanded impossible transformation: to be instantly gifted with the power …
TOUCHED BY TONI
How I Discovered, “Discovered,” & “Was Discovered” by Toni Morrison INSPIRATION: the gift of breathing in that which sustains. That is what Toni Morrison has been for me since 1978. Apart from my mother and grandmothers, Toni Morrison stands as the woman who shaped my life in the profoundest of …