The Three Mothers
How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Malcolm X and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
Anna Malaika Tubbs

On Sale December 28, 2021
Now in Paperback
In her groundbreaking and essential debut The Three Mothers, scholar Anna Malaika Tubbs celebrates Black motherhood by telling the story of the women who raised and shaped three of America’s most pivotal heroes: Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin.
Tubbs’s book stands against the women’s erasure, a monument to their historical importance. As Malcolm X put it, ‘All our achievements are mom’s.’The New Yorker’s “Briefly Noted” column
This ambitious book reframes African American history, supplying the female Black experience as a much-needed perspective.The Washington Post
Tubbs’s portrait is an intimate narrative that aims to link not only Little, King and Baldwin, but all Black mothers . . . the intersections she highlights are beautiful.The New York Times Book Review
Anna Malaika Tubbs uncovers hidden complexities within black motherhood that illuminate our understanding of the past while also shedding light on the overlooked contributions of black women today. An eye-opening, engrossing read!Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of
The Vanishing Half and The Mothers
The light Alberta, Louise and Berdis deserve is finally shining on them, not only as mothers, but as women whose lives and examples can stir up the gift in all of us.Brittany Packnett Cunningham,
host of Undistracted and founder of Love & Power
An essential celebration of Black women, one that illuminates the history of racism and resistance in critical new ways. A timely and important book.Elizabeth Hinton, author of From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime
An intimate explication of motherhood as the shoulders upon which children stand.Julie Lythcott-Haims, New York Times bestselling author of
How to Raise an Adult and Real American

About the Author
Anna Malaika Tubbs is a multidisciplinary expert on current and historical understandings of race, gender, and equity. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a BA in anthropology, Anna earned her MA in gender studies and her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Cambridge as a Bill and Melinda Gates Cambridge Scholar. She lives with her husband, Michael Tubbs, and their children Michael Malakai and Nehemiah Neven.