Recently, I published my 14th book, Blues Women: The First Civil Rights Workers. Although it is a tiny book, it is packed with information about 10 powerful women who brought the Blues genre to the attention of millions of Americans. At a time when Africans in America were subjected to Jim Crow laws that further degraded their existence, women like Mamie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, and Bessie Smith stood their ground on stages across the nation, bringing joy and entertainment to thousands of people, white and black. Their songs are current, today, and their message of the upliftment of the human spirit helped to raise the consciousness of a nation that was built on the backs of their ancestors.

Buy this book at www.lulu.com/shop/dr-joan-cartwright/blues-women-the-first-civil-rights-workers/paperback/product-23486947.html