Book Review: Take My Hand by Dolan Perkins-Valdez
About
Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies.
But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.
Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.
Because history repeats what we don’t remember.
Inspired by true events and brimming with hope, Take My Hand is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption.
But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.
Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.
Because history repeats what we don’t remember.
Inspired by true events and brimming with hope, Take My Hand is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption.
My Review
I possess a hardcover copy, but I decided to listen to the book in audio, narrated by Lauren J. Daggett, who brings the characters to life. The story alternated from 1973 and 2016, between Montgomery Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee mostly, as Civil is telling the story to her daughter.
The chapters are short, but relative to the current issues in our conversation and government policies in 2023, were a federal abortion ban. On April 18, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the first-ever federal law banning abortion procedures and gave politicians the green light to interfere in people's reproductive health care decisions. The federal abortion ban criminalizes abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy that doctors say are often the safest and best way to protect a pregnant person's health.
Physician and Hospital Requirements: 32 states require an abortion to be performed by a licensed physician. 20 states require an abortion to be performed in a hospital after a specified point in the pregnancy, and 17 states require the involvement of a second physician after a specified point.
Civil’s father is so reminiscent of my father and husband. I truly adored his character. I prized how she was patient with her mother and cared for her despite her mental health. The familiar landscapes in the novel resonated with me, Wetumpka, crepe myrtles, cotton fields, Montgomery, Selma, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tide versus Auburn Tigers, and the Magic City Classic in Birmingham. The major crux of this whole novel was defined in chapter 31, when the testimony was brought before a subcommittee in Washington DC. There were a lot of jaw dropping moments while reading this historical fiction. A constant page turner.
You can anticipate that there will be disappointments but you wish for the better as you progress in the story. I appreciate the three years of research that the author put into writing this novel, and taking creative licenses to imagine what the nurses had to contend with. Superb character building and historical content. The story took me on an emotional journey. This was a five star read for me.
Historical Facts
Eunice Verdell Rivers Laurie (1899–1986) was an African American nurse who worked in the state of Alabama. She is known for her work as one of the nurses of the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study in Macon County from 1932 to 1972.
Freddie Lee Shuttlesworth (born Freddie Lee Robinson
, March 18, 1922 – October 5, 2011) was an American civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, initiated and was instrumental in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, and continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took up a pastorate in 1961.[1] He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007. He worked with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, though the two men often disagreed on tactics and approaches.
A young Pensacola native turned hero, Rosamond Johnson was the first soldier from Escambia County, Florida to die in the Korean War. After the Korean conflict, the Sunset Riding Club Inc. which had leased the beach on the eastern end of Perdido Key from the county proposed naming the area for Private Johnson in order to honor and remember his sacrifice and the beach’s importance within the community. When Gulf Islands National Seashore was established, and the Perdido Key Area was added, the name Rosamond Johnson Beach was retained for the developed swim beach. . Gulf Islands National Seashore and its partners hold an annual Rosamond Johnson Commemoration each May to remember the service and sacrifice of Private Johnson and his family. A monument and wayside about Private Johnson and his service in the United States are permanently installed at the beach.
https://happybeachcomber.com/florida-black-history/Links:
Why Marsai Martin and Priah Ferguson Should Portray The Relf Sisters In A Movie?
The Relf Sisters, Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Relf (who were 12 and 14 years old in 1973, respectively), are two African-American sisters who were involuntarily sterilized by tubal ligation by a federally funded family planning clinic in Montgomery, Alabama in 1973.
The Relf filed a lawsuit and exposed the wide-spread sterilization abuse funded by the federal government and practiced for decades. The district court found an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 poor people were sterilized annually under federally-funded programs. Countless others were forced to agree to be sterilized when doctors threatened to terminate their welfare benefits unless they consented to the procedures.
Marsai Martin and Priah Ferguson would be the perfect duo for these two. They both star in huge two shows on television right now. Blackish and Stranger Things have dominated for their perspective networks. They both would shine bright as the Relf Sisters.
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| Photo Courtesy of Getty Images |
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