EFOC 2024: Echoes of Inheritance: Black Generational Stories  – Essence

Spiritual inclinations, Hoodoo, and other variations of historic proportions took center stage at Echos of Inheritance: Black Generational Studies. Authors Phillip B. Williams, Denene Milner, and Ayana Mathis shared the most notable components of their latest novels. Moderated by host Talia Cadet, the conversation that took place was insightful, distinct, and noteworthy for many reasons.

For instance, Milner said that her newest book One Blood traces a story through generations. In her latest, the 1960s to the 1990s are reflected–she details different variations of motherhood from intimate perspectives. “It’s about these three women fighting isms to figure out who they want to be versus what everybody else thinks they should be,” she said.

Elsewhere in the panel, Milner shared that research on midwifery and intergenerational traumas associated with Black women was a part of her process for writing One Blood. She also looked to intimate personal knowledge from her mother’s life experiences to guide her a bit. The repercussions of holding women hostage to capitalism, misogyny, and other innate forces are explored in the book, said the author.

In Ours, his newest novel Williams details how he planted the universe he created as a bit of a Utopia. Though set in a period when slavery would have been taking place the author decided to omit it. He opted to ideate an expansive realm that has its own rules and its limitations. Magical elements are intrinsic to the novel as well.

Mathis on her novel which is set in the 1980s, The Unsettled: “It’s about a very fractured family attempt to hold onto their spiritual homeland and their legacy.” The city of Philadelphia is a significant part of the storyline too she notes. The author is originally from the previously mentioned city.

A compelling moment from Mathis included when she expressed why she chose the 1980s to key in on. “Horiffic stereotypes of Black women and people” are notions she wanted to divert rather than include the oft-depicted fictional figures such as the “welfare queen” in her novel. She adds that she was largely inspired by the MOVE organization in Philadelphia too.

When speaking about what is coming next for themselves, each author had very different answers. Williams stated he is currently working on a poetry book–Denene shared excitement about a children’s book she has in the works. And Mathis declared as of late she’s been compiling her most recent essays on faith.