- African American Literature, African American Writers, Book Reviews, Memoirs & Biographies, Non-Fiction, Women of African Descent writers
Book Review and Reflection of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine by Uché Blackstock, MD
Reading Time: 4 minutesYear of publication: 2025 Genre: Autobiography Country: United States Introduction Legacy by Dr Uché Blackstock is a heartfelt and courageous memoir that explores her life, family, and community while highlighting the ongoing health inequities that disproportionately affect Black communities. She pays loving homage to her mother, “the original Dr Blackstock,” and writes about her with so much tenderness, admiration, and appreciation. Her mother worked as a doctor, caring for her community, and passed the baton to her daughters, who also became doctors. As an African woman living in England and now Scotland, I had many moments of recognition while reading this. I am often in spaces where…
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Review and Reflection of Letter to My Daughter by Dr. Maya Angelou
Reading Time: 2 minutesGenre: Semi-autobiographicalYear of Publication: 2008Country: United StatesBuy the book here Introduction Letter to My Daughter was an absolutely beautiful read. I actually bought it together with Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, as I thought it was a book about raising girl children – I do not usually read book blurbs before getting into them. However, I quickly realised that the book was not at all about raising girls; it was more for me, as if Maya Angelou were speaking directly to me. In her preface, Maya explains that although she never had a biological daughter, she wrote this book for all…
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Book Review and Reflection: We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan
Reading Time: 3 minutesYear of Publication: 2021Genre: Fiction – Contemporary, Historical, MultigenerationalCountry: United Kingdom/Uganda (author of Nigerian–Pakistani heritage) Buy Book Here Introduction We Are All Birds of Uganda is Hafsa Zayyan’s debut novel, and it explores themes of migration, belonging, race, identity, and love across two generations and races. Set between London and Uganda, it captures the intertwined experiences of an Indian-Ugandan family and their descendants, addressing questions of home, identity, belonging, colonialism and postcoloniality. Through deeply personal and reflective storytelling, We Are All Birds of Uganda examines how histories of displacement and racism continue to shape contemporary lives. The novel is part historical fiction, part modern-day exploration of identity…
