Product Description

Dear Self is the penetrating journal of Richelene Mitchell, a young African American mother of seven struggling to raise her children while wrestling with the burden of poverty, callous public policy, and both overt and subtle manifestations of entrenched, institutionalized racism America. Mitchell was born in the rural south, the daughter of an African American sharecropper. She would venture to the northern ghetto of Philadelphia to enhance her educational opportunities. Hence, her early life was shaped by the twin forces defining African America life in the twentieth century: the rural south and the urban north. Mitchell's promising academic career was curtailed by an eventually failed marriage that rendered her a single mother of seven children living in a sprawling public housing project. Forced to deal with the humiliation of public assistance, she chronicled a year of her life, 1973, in this penetrating journal. Though written over twenty years ago, her intimate experience with and intricate insights into the informing and penetrating light on race reality faced by an expanding American underclass are as relevant today as they were then. She sheds light on poverty, mothering, gender relations and many other pertinent issues. This book is a valuable resource for all of those seeking to understand the reality faced by millions of Americans whose plight rarely finds an informed and articulate voice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1026181 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Beautiful book
I happen to come across this book quite by accident at the library one day. I couldn't check it out at the time, but once I could, I went right back and got that book, and I tell you, this is no ordinary welfare mother, but then again, who is? or who isn't? Richeline was born in Georgia, finished high school in South Philadelphia, got married and ended up in New Britain, Connecticut with seven kids. She resolved for 1973 to write a journal of her life and concerns, and that she did. One of the entries while discussing her financial woes, she muses if she sold this journal what would it profit? sadly, she didn't live to see the results. She speaks of not being able to work for herself(although she does work parttime at a dry cleaners)and giving her body to science as a sort of payback, writing letters to the local newspaper editor and seeing them published as well. She yearns that her children would break the cycle and become better adults, and at the end of the book, there is a section on what happened to her children. She also talks about her health. She suffered from seizures, and she valiantly tried to keep it from her kids. Nevertheless, after reading this book, one would think twice about labeling someone a welfare queen or what have you. Richeline Mitchell may have been a welfare mother, but I believe she was far more than that. A great book and highly recommended for all.

If you liked "Nickled and Dimed in America"..
I got this book 3 weeks ago after hearing about it in a lecture. It's a unique first-person account written down in real-time in 1973. So no 'revisionism' by the author, and no filtering by writer who didn't directly experience what the book is recounting.
In some ways, it is better than the book "Nickeled and Dimed in America" because it's not a simulated, rootless probe into the conditions of the poorest Americans, but an insightful sincere diary!

Amazing
The book Dear Self is an excellent book that everyone should read. It really draws the reader into never wanting to put it down. It appeals to people of every upbringing, age, and culture. The reader will feel as though they have experienced what the very writer has gone through. The emotions of sadness, happiness, and times of struggle have an immense affect on any person who reads this book. Superbly put together, Dear Self proves that with struggle there is ease. Richelene Mitchell, who documents these stories in a diary, proves that, although everyone has struggles or difficulties in life, with determination, patience, and acceptance of those struggles, one will succeed. What I found amazing about the writer was the fact that she never expressed pain throughout her illness of epilepsy. She continued to provide for her seven children, with endless love and support. This is most definitely a book that everyone can learn at least one lesson from, especially through the writer's strength, patience, and courage.