The Coming by Dr. Daniel Black: A Book Review of the Most Influential Book

I wouldn’t do Black History Month any justice if I didn’t share with you my love for “The Coming” by Daniel Black. My Godmother was the woman in my life that most challenged my understanding of my experience as a black woman in America. When she recommended "The Coming" there was no way for me to expect the type of life changing intellectual challenge that would occur as I absorbed this novel.

Dr. Daniel Black is an author and professor of African American studies at Clark Atlanta University. "The coming" is a novel depicting the brutal details of enslaved Africans from a more personal view. After years of African studies Dr. Black wrote this history in a way I have never experienced. Dr. Black made it personal. The coming made me question how I viewed the capture of Africans and the Slave Trade that I thought I knew.

In the past few years my therapist has challenged how I see myself as a Black woman. This challenging concept she bought up to me a few times was solidified within reading this book… if my ancestors chose to live so that I could live why wouldn’t I become the best version of myself in order to honor them?

This was spoken to me again on page 56 of "The Coming" :

“We knew how to die. That had been proven. Now we wanted to live. For those who had died and those who’d been forced to die.”

For those of us of African descent we must understand our ancestors CHOSE to live. This is not a concept I’d heard before therapy. The fact that we must honor our ancestors because they lived when they could have died.

“To speak the truth, one day, about a people too strong to be destroyed completely. To tell the world how we’d survived what no human should’ve survived.” In order to live through such a treacherous life experience, one could only think of the future. When our ancestors could have died, they were thinking of us, the future, opportunity. On page 87 Dr. Black goes on to define a woman proclaiming out "We shall not all die. We shall live again. In a new land”.

In all my learning, lessons and reading I hadn’t had discussions that considered the mental capacity, decisions and motivation of our ancestors when they were taken from Africa. Black goes on to say, “Our Sprits were free”. Although they may have been bound by shackles, their Spirits were free! The only way to remain focused when you’re in something that has you bound is by focusing through your spirit.

The coming reminded me that I have so much more to consider when it comes to my freedom, purpose and blackness. My experience is directly related to that of my ancestors, and I should be grateful that they chose to live through such unimaginable turmoil.

I recommend The Coming to ALL. It will remain listed in my top literary pieces until the end of time. When you read it I would love to hear your thoughts!

Click to purchase "The Coming" on Amazon.