From the Inside Flap
Sacred Bond: Black Men and Their Mothers is like the best kind of family reunion: it serves up a feast of family stories and photographs, and everyone who participates feels both moved and amused, nostalgic and proud. In the revealing personal histories gathered here, thirty-seven black men revisit their original families, and the one relationship that has had the greatest impact on making them who they are that is, their relationship with their mother. Intrigued by the fact that men rarely discuss their mothers candidly, and inspired by his own family experience, author Keith M. Brown asked other African-American men to share their personal histories. Brown spoke to police detectives, artists, real estate investors, comedians, and public figures such as Broadway producer George C. Wolfe, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, and actor Malik Yoba. These men come from a variety of backgrounds, lifestyles and age groups, but they have two things in common: all can be considered successful, and all, not coincidentally, grew up under the influence of a powerful mother figure. No matter their circumstance, the women in these pages have all had a tremendous impact on their son's ability to succeed. The experiences their sons describe some surprising, some poignant, all deeply affecting testify to the power of love and faith, and the endurance of the mother-son bond. Ultimately, what emerges are portraits of mothers through their sons eyes, a celebration of courage, strength, and resilience.
About the Author
Keith Brown is an award-winning broadcast journalist. He has produced for NBC News Special Projects, CBS Reports, and for the prime-time newsmagazines Street Stories with Ed Bradley, 48 Hours, and America Tonight. He earned his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, and his columns have appeared in New York Newsday and Essence. Artist and photographer Adger W. Cowans has received numerous awards, including a John Hay Whitney Fellowship. His work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in museums and galleries worldwide. A veteran still-life photographer in the motion-picture industry, Cowans has also captured the work of such directors as Bill Duke, Sidney Lumet, Spike Lee, and Francis Ford Coppola.
