Whether you read Viola Davis’s exquisite memoir or listen to it, learning her story is a gut-wrenching, awe-inspiring, life-changing experience. She recently won a Grammy for the audiobook version of the book.
It’s astounding that anyone who’s experienced the depths of poverty and family violence she did would not only forgive her father for his violent acts, and heal. But also express her true passion as an actor and become an EGOT—winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award.
Viola joins the ranks of some of the most talented people in the world to achieve this honor, including the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, and Alan Menken (the person responsible for literally all your favorite Disney songs).
I didn’t listen to the audiobook version; I’m a reader. Yet Finding Me spurred me on to reading several women of color’s memoirs. I also highly recommend Cori Bushe’s, The Front Runner; Jamile Hill’s, Uphill, and Michele Harper’s The Beauty in Breaking.
Not a memoir, but a women’s story, All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake” by Tiya Miles is a masterpiece commemorating five generations of women slaves. In this book, I learned that “slave narrative” is now a literary genre.
