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Books by Dee Freeman
Poetry
She Wrote I: Oh, Magnify Him /
Poetry She Wrote II: Reflections of the Heart /
Poetry She Wrote III: Love Ever Flowing
Oceans
of Love: To Us From Us
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Who Am I?
By Dee Freeman
Jesse Jackson tells
me "I am somebody."
Michael Jackson
sings "I'm the one in the Mirror"
Maya Angelou says
I'm a
"Phenomenally Phenomenal Woman"
Yet I despair
Is it because I
still hear the voices of the
former slave owners
saying that
I am only two-thirds of a citizen?
Aretha Franklin
bellows, I should demand
"Respect"
The Staple Singers
vocalizes I should
"Respect
Myself"
Helen Baylor melodically croons "I've got
the Victory" and I agree
So why do I despair,
Why am I despondent?
Is it because
I can't seem to find my right place in society?
My friends say I'm
gifted and talented
My husband tells me
I'm his beauty queen
My history &
heritage bequeaths that
I'm a descendant of Kings and Queens
Yet, I have doubts
That surface and rob
me of fully
Realizing
And appreciating my self worth.
Martin Luther King,
Jr. shouts from the mountain top
That "I'm free
at last"
Malcolm X proclaimed
I have now and have
always had "Black Power"
James Brown bellows
I should
"Say it loud,
I'm Black and I'm Proud"
The Holy Word gently
reminds me
That I am a child of the King
So, I look in the
mirror
Then delve deep
within myself
There I see the
birth of a New ME!
A brand New ME.
Now I See Who I Am,
Now I can sing!
Now I can shout to the world!
Now I can stand tall
Yell it from the
mountain tops!
Now I can walk
proudly, with my head held high.
Now I know that I AM SOMEBODY!
The reflection in
the mirror is ME!
I AM ME!
And "I Gotta be
me"
I am an intelligent
creation of the Almighty.
I am a PROUD
African-American!
I am a PROUD Black WOMAN,
Who has found
self-love.
The awesome power of
Black Love
Opens like a cocoon
and awakens my spirit.
It transforms me
into
The real me, my true identity.
Source:
Oceans
of Love: To Us From Us by Dee Freeman
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Delores King-Freeman, (Dee to family),
is a motivated and compelling poet, author, producer and host,
who is using her love, skills and creativity to help readers
enjoy words and rhythmic rhyme.
She left the south during the sixties to follow her
dream, which proved extremely elusive. Now, finally catching and living that dream, she happily
immerses herself in her passion-writing.
Freeman has previously published well received books of
poetry entitled
Oceans
of Love: To Us From Us and
Poetry
She Wrote I: Oh, Magnify Him. |
Both have been placed in the school system
and libraries around town.
She has had a number of poems appear in magazines,
anthologies and new papers where some have been recognized with
awards for their inspirational, even motivational message.
She was presented with a commendation for the
City and City Council during Black History Month in 2005.
She continues to provide the Lansing State Journal
with an article, book review or word of inspiration on a monthly
basis. She co-hosts “poetry slams” held at various locations
throughout the Greater Lansing area. Freeman looks forward to expanding her
Poetree-N-Motion TV program which shares information of
community events, history tidbits, book reviews and has guests
with current community issues. It airs in Lansing on Comcast channel 16 -Thursday @ 3:30PM
and East Lansing channel 30 WELM on Tuesday @ 7:00PM. She is also a talented musical lyricist, hoping to have her
work recorded in the near future.
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Presently, Freeman is in the completion stage
of her first fiction novel-a project in conjunction with a movie
producer. This
novel—Wild,
Untamed Michigan: The Way It Was—is
scheduled to hit the stores in early or mid 2006, with the
second of the “Poetry, She Wrote” series—following
close behind.
Freeman thoroughly enjoys writing and sharing
her poetry through presentations at special annual luncheons,
tributes honoring the leadership of community and churches, and
other venues throughout the region.
She honestly feels her words will benefit all who read
them-gently touching, softly soothing, delightfully awakening,
enthusiastically illuminating and fervently healing.
As a grandparent of three grandsons, Freeman
sees the need for help within the community.
She volunteers for readings and events throughout the
Lansing School District. She
works on projects with the Michigan Million Women Movement that
sprang out of the MWM (Million Women March) of 1997.
She’s a member of several supporting organizations,
such as Delores Thornton’s Marguerite Press, Disilgold Soul
and Publishing and Sisterhood of The Written Word. She also
sings with a 35 voice group, who continues to keep the Negro
Spirituals alive-The Earl Nelson Singers-directed by Verna
Holley.
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An alumnus of Northwood University of Midland
and former Financial Analyst for General Motors, Freeman
continues to reside in Lansing, Michigan with her husband,
Attorney Myron S. Freeman Sr.
She is proud of her three adult children, one of whom has
attained stardom as an actress on Broadway.
Dee Freeman, Poet, Author, Speaker
and Host! / 517 321-3122 /
www.deepoette.com / deedkfreeman@yahoo.com
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Salvage the Bones
A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
On one level, Salvage the Bones is a simple story about a poor black family that’s about to be trashed by one of the most deadly hurricanes in U.S. history. What makes the novel so powerful, though, is the way Ward winds private passions with that menace gathering force out in the Gulf of Mexico. Without a hint of pretension, in the simple lives of these poor people living among chickens and abandoned cars, she evokes the tenacious love and desperation of classical tragedy. The force that pushes back against Katrina’s inexorable winds is the voice of Ward’s narrator, a 14-year-old girl named Esch, the only daughter among four siblings. Precocious, passionate and sensitive, she speaks almost entirely in phrases soaked in her family’s raw land. Everything here is gritty, loamy and alive, as though the very soil were animated. Her brother’s “blood smells like wet hot earth after summer rain. . . . His scalp looks like fresh turned dirt.” Her father’s hands “are like gravel,” while her own hand “slides through his grip like a wet fish,” and a handsome boy’s “muscles jabbered like chickens.” Admittedly, Ward can push so hard on this simile-obsessed style that her paragraphs risk sounding like a compost heap, but this isn’t usually just metaphor for metaphor’s sake. She conveys something fundamental about Esch’s fluid state of mind: her figurative sense of the world in which all things correspond and connect. She and her brothers live in a ramshackle house steeped in grief since their mother died giving birth to her last child. . . . What remains, what’s salvaged, is something indomitable in these tough siblings, the strength of their love, the permanence of their devotion.— WashingtonPost
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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