Makeda

The debut title from Akashic’s Open Lens imprint: a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind, from the nationally best-selling author Randall Robinson.

“Eloquent and erudite, Robinson’s oft-times mystical coming-of-age saga teems with rich and evocative historical insights.” ―Booklist

“Robinson writes with erudition about strange and wonderful matters.” ―Kirkus Reviews

A selection of the Open Lens imprint.

Makeda Gee Florida Harris March is a proud and graceful matriarch, the anchor and emotional bellwether who holds together a hard-working African American family living in 1950s Richmond, Virginia. Embattled by the social ills of the day and the deferred dreams of Makeda’s son David and his wife, the hopes of the March family are pinned on their elder son Gordon and the seedlings of change that will grow into the Civil Rights Movement. Lost in the shadows is Gordon’s younger brother Gray, who is also bright and perceptive, but doesn’t quite measure up in his own eyes, or in the eyes of his father.

While struggling to survive the emotional vacuum of his household, Gray escapes into the safe and magical world of his grandmother Makeda’s tiny parlor. Makeda, a woman blind since birth but who has always dreamed in color, begins to confide in Gray the things she “sees” and remembers from her dream state, and an increasingly detailed story emerges that is layered with historical accuracy beyond the scope of Makeda’s limited education. Gradually, Gray begins to make a connection between his grandmother’s dreams and the epic life of an African queen described in the Bible . . .

Part coming-of-age story, part spiritual journey, and part love story, Makeda is a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind. It is about the people who help to shape and mold us, and lead us into the light. Appealing to the deepest sense of who we are, Robinson plumbs the hearts of Makeda and Gray, and summons our collective blood memories, taking the reader on an unforgettable journey of the soul that will linger long after the last page has been turned.

RANDALL ROBINSON (1941–2023) was the author of Makeda, An Unbroken Agony, and of the national bestsellers The Debt, The Reckoning, Quitting America, and Defending the Spirit. In 1984, he established the Free South Africa Movement, which pushed successfully for the imposition of US sanctions against apartheid South Africa. In 1994, his public advocacy, including a twenty-seven-day hunger strike, led to the UN multinational operation that restored Haiti’s first democratically elected government to power. Robinson was a professor of law at Penn State Law School and was the creator, coproducer, and host of the public television human rights series World on Trial. He lived with his wife Hazel in St. Kitts, West Indies.