Carved In Ebony By Jasmine L. Holmes

Carved in Ebony

by Jasmine L. Holmes

Publisher: Bethany House

ISBN: 9780764238857

I had seen this book on social media quite a few times. When I had the opportunity to read it, I was looking forward to learning about Black women from the past who shaped the women of their day and should be today. I received the book for review.

Summary:

Elizabeth Freeman, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Maria Fearing, Charlotte Forten Grimké, Sarah Mapps Douglass, Sara Griffith Stanley, Amanda Berry Smith, Lucy Craft Laney, Maria Stewart, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

These names may not be familiar, but each one of these women was a shining beacon of devotion in a world that did not value their lives. They worked to change laws, built schools, spoke to thousands, shared the Gospel around the world. And while history books may have forgotten them, their stories can teach us so much about what it means to be modern women of faith.

Through the research and reflections of author Jasmine Holmes, you will be inspired by what each of these exceptional women can teach us about the intersections of faith and education, birth, privilege, opportunity, and so much more. Carved in Ebony will take you past the predominantly white, male contributions that seemingly dominate history books and church history to discover how Black women have been some of the main figures in defining the landscape of American history and faith.

Join Jasmine on this journey of illuminating these women--God's image-bearers, carved in ebony.

My Review:

I was looking forward to reading Carved in Ebony. As a white woman, one might think a book such as this wouldn't apply to me, but Carved in Ebony is a book all of us should read. It made me think about all the voices of women who will be lost to the past.

It was powerful to read about the women the author chose to highlight. Only 10 women in hundreds of years of Black women who had blazed a trail are highlighted in the story. Each woman's story, in some way, touches the lives of those who come after her.

My favorite person to learn about was Amanda Berry Smith. One might think it would've been one of the other Black women who had loud voices and made the Black struggle known. Amanda's story spoke to me because her deep and abiding desire to grow more like Christ. All of the stories though spoke to me on a variety of levels. Their examples of perseverance and devotion to make God known was a continuous thread. I loved that over and over these women pointed to the Truth. The fallacy the new world was trying to push was that Black men and women were nothing but chattel for slavery and these women were NOT having it! Could anything be more encouraging?

We never want to forget where we've come from - all of us - because the last thing we can ever do is go back to where we were. We can't forget the things of the past because we want the future to be different for all of us, as fellow image bearers of Christ.

About the Author:

Jasmine L. Holmes (www.jasminelholmes.com) is the author of Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope. She is also a contributing author for Identity Theft: Reclaiming the Truth of Our Identity in Christ and His Testimonies, My Heritage: Women of Color on the Word of God. She and her husband, Phillip, are parenting three young sons in Jackson, Mississippi.