Written in the Waters by Tara Roberts was a fun find in the library. I meandered over to the biography/memoir area and this one caught my eye. What a reading journey!
cover blurb - This lush memoir is the epic story of one woman's life changing journey across three continents to confront the reality of the global slave trade - and find her place in the world.
Tara Roberts is a National Geographic Explorer in Residence. She documents shipwrecks that once carried captive Africans during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. She leads a podcast series Into the Depths, and was the first Black woman explorer to grace the National Geographic magazine.
It was a fortuitous day when she discovered a scuba group, Diving With a Purpose, which helps document the wrecks of ships. Her life became one of discovery for history itself, and for own self history - the stories of her ancestors.
cover blurb - Tara Roberts joins a cadre of new writers who draw on personal and cultural records to open readers' eyes and hearts. She weaves together the voices of past and present to tell a deeper story of Black identity.
A complete eye opener for me. I learned a lot from her travels to Africa, the Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, and home in Atlanta, and the deep South.
p. 248 a friend gives her a quote that is true to her feelings: To be African American is to be African without any memory and American without any privilege
Whoa - think about it and reflect on that.
thecontemplativecat here. Interesting quote, and I will have to think about it. what adventures she has had.
ReplyDeletethanks for commenting. This woman is phenomenal. And yes, I have no idea about her experiences as an African American woman. We have no idea what it's like in her shoes. Really good read.
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