What Mama Couldn't Tell Us About Love : Healing the Emotional Legacy of Slavery, Celebrating Our Light

by Brenda Richardson; Brenda Richardson; Brenda Wade

• ISBN13: 9780060192969
• ISBN10: 0060192968
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-30
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

"Mama," writes Brenda Richardson, "you taught me how a black woman could survive and prevail in this world . . . but because you never learned yourself, you couldn't teach me how to make love work. . . . I don't mean any disrespect, Mama, but . . . now I have children of my own. And in a loud revolutionary voice, I declare to the universe: the pain stops here."

Author Biography

Brenda Lane Richardson, the author of Chesapeake Song, is an award-winning journalist and a noted public speaker. Essence columnist Dr. Brenda Wade is a clinical psychologist, a well-known television personality, and a popular public speaker who lectures widely across the country.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Authors' Note: To You from Us	xi
Prologue: A Letter to Mamm	xiii
Introduction	xvii
PART ONE Our Emotional Inheritance
The Past as a Presence	3	(11)
Limiting Beliefs and Freeing Beliefs	14	(19)
PART TWO What Mamma Couldn't Tell Us
Believe in Abundance	33	(28)
Love Yourself	61	(24)
Open Your Heart to Your Man	85	(15)
We Can Be Good and Angry	100	(26)
You're Not Evil, but You Might Be Depressed	126	(27)
You Don't Have to Be your Mate's Mamma	153	(19)
Your Body and Your Sexuality Are Yours	172	(23)
PART THREE The Keys to Self-Love
Forgiving Those Who Hurt Us	195	(8)
Using Life-Enhancing Beliefs	203	(20)
Epilogue	221	(2)
Resources	223	(2)
Notes	225	(10)
Index	235