Wearing Purple - Hardcover

Lydia Lewis Alexander; Marilyn Hill Harper; Otis Holloway Owens; Mildred Lucas Patterson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517708345 ISBN 13: 9780517708347

Publisher: Harmony, 1996

Synopsis

Forty years ago, four black women met at Talladega College and began an enduring friendship that has sustained them through the tumultuous social events of the past four decades and the personal events that fill their private lives. Nearly eight years ago, these women--Mildred, Otis, Marilyn, and Lydia--though they all lived in different parts of the country, decided to form a "working circle" friendship and write letters to each other. In these letters, the women explore thoughts and feelings about their current and future life experiences.

Wearing Purple is a compilation of these heartfelt letters, revealing the joy, sadness, laughter, and fears of four friends approaching middle age. Sharing these experiences, which range from raising children to approaching retirement to discussing sex and race issues, has helped these women find a truer, deeper meaning in their lives.

About this title

About the Author

Lydia Lewis Alexander, Ed.D, is an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She lives in Bessemer, Alabama.

Marilyn Hill Harper, M.D., is a clinical professor at The University of California San Francisco Medical School; she lives in San Francisco.

Otis Holloway Owens, M.A., is an assistant vice president at the University of North Florida; she lives in Jacksonville.

Mildred Lucas Patterson, M.A.,is a motivational reading specialist; she lives in University City, Missouri.

Reviews

These four middle-aged African American women, all professionals in their fields, first met in 1954 at Alabama's Talladega College and in 1989 formed a "working circle" of support for one another. In addition to meeting twice a year and participating in conference calls, they have corresponded for the past seven years. The warm and affecting letters collected here testify to the deep devotion they hold for one another, as well as the concerns they share, including love relationships, children, the aging process, career issues and the death of close family members and friends. Patterson and Owens are both in long-term marriages and frequently refer to the power of the marital bond, while Alexander, a widow, and Harper, a divorcee, describe their lives as single women. Although they refer to episodes of discrimination they have faced as African American women, the emphasis here is on their experiences as females and how having close women friends has enhanced their lives. Their letters should appeal to women interested in friendship with their fellow women. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A good idea gone awry: Four women growing older form a ``circle of friends,'' writing to each other about their bodies, relationships, sexuality, and careers, but with letters organized in such chaotic fashion that it's impossible to follow whatever development might have taken place. The four authors--variously successful as a medical doctor, a teacher, a college professor, and a university administrator- -are African-American women raised in the South, and they first met at Talladega College, in Alabama, in the mid-1950s. In 1989 Marilyn Hill Harper suggested formalizing the friendships in a way that would let them support one another through mid-life and old age. The four gathered in San Francisco in 1990 and have continued meeting regularly as well as keeping in touch by letter and monthly conference calls. The issues on the table are retirement, health and good looks, men (one woman is widowed, one divorced, two still partners in long marriages), sex, personal style, family (including aging parents), forgetting and remembering. Although the letters are loosely organized into chapters by subject, they are as tossed about chronologically as the balls in a lotto wheel and are often self-conscious and self- congratulatory. As a result, the reader loses the development of the friendship and of the matters that concern each woman over the seven or so years covered in this volume. What's appealing is that the authors--intelligent, educated, and engaged in the wider world--don't tackle global political issues like racism and feminism, although all have experienced bigotry and misogyny. They deal instead, often humorously, with more personal concerns like failing bladders, renovating careers and houses after 50, and strengthening the friendships that will sustain them through old age. Close, but no prize this time. Perhaps seven years from now, this quartet will have found a stronger voice. (4 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harmony
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0517708345
• ISBN 13: 9780517708347
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 223