The year is 1928. May Skinner Bell has serious problems. She feels deeply the evil of the Alabama plantation where she, her husband and sons have fallen to. The family is very poor although May's enchanted beauty and education keep them separate from the nearby town. May was raised in Indian Territory by French nuns. Her friend and tutor was an old ex-slave and soldier. This gives May two natures. The result is a troubled young woman given to frightening rages and eccentric visions. Surrounding her is the plantation community of black workers, in desperate circumstances, and the Klan. The Klan never forgets that May's grandfather served as a Union soldier. Those whites around never forget that he was murdered by them on his return. From Murder to murder, violence to violence, May must cope with fear, ignorance and hate. Voodoo gives her Mojo, a gift which helps her survive and stay faithful to her family.

Adam Gussow is a writer and blues harmonica player. He is associate professor of English and southern studies at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Maria Morera Johnson grew up knowing the virgencita—the Virgin Mary—and had a special love for Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba. Even after Johnson moved to the United States, Our Lady of Charity continued to influence her life. In her new book, the bestselling and award-winning author shares her childhood recollections of the devotion to the patroness of her native country and stories of how Mary helped her deepen her faith and led her to Jesus. Johnson also invites you to know Mary in a new way and to allow devotion to the Blessed Mother to help you open your heart to others and to grow in faith and love. The origin of the devotion to Our Lady of Charity in Cuba comes from a seventeenth-century story of three men who were tossed about at sea during a violent storm. They prayed to Mary for her protection and the storm suddenly disappeared. They found a statue of the Blessed Mother holding Jesus and a gold cross floating in the water. The statue included the inscription: “I am the Virgin of Charity.” The statue was completely dry as it floated in the water. Our Lady of Charity is not a Church-approved apparition; nevertheless, several popes—including St. John Paul II and Pope Francis, who celebrated Mass at her shrine during his visit to Cuba in 2015—have supported devotion to Mary under this title. Johnson, author of the bestselling My Badass Book of Saints, traces the history of Our Lady of Charity in Cuba and how the devotion was spread by emigrants as they left their country behind. Johnson weaves the story of the devotion with Cuba’s history, memories of her homeland, and tales of her journey back to Cuba for the first time since her childhood during Pope Francis’s 2015 Apostolic Visit. Throughout Our Lady of Charity, Johnson shares her devotion to Mary and passion for her Catholic faith. This evocative spiritual memoir is part history and part memory, part modern-day travelogue and part meditation on the role faith, family, and devotion have on how we live and love.

HOLLY CLAYTON is a business major, and has a B.S. degree in Teaching. She taught children and adults for many years. She is a widow, and has two children, one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. She wrote a book on Mary's life in prison, and why Mary went to prison. Holly believes everyone deserves a second chance. Mary didn't get a second chance Act, and believed she was treated wrong by the justice system and the prison she went too. She also wrote about her life with her husband and the love they shared together, and the way the end came for her husband and her not being there for him when he needed her the most. Holly also talks about how the justice system is so unfair for the first time non-violet crimes on taxes. Compassion is what the justice system needs, and to look into a person's file and life, before sentencing to prison. Holly's concerned with equal justice for all!

Mother Jones is an award-winning national magazine widely respected for its groundbreaking investigative reporting and coverage of sustainability and environmental issues.

Mother Jones is an award-winning national magazine widely respected for its groundbreaking investigative reporting and coverage of sustainability and environmental issues.

Mama's Mojo is the stepping-stone to womanhood with a tradi-tional African American perspective through spirituality and prac-ticality.It should give any female the tools to begin her journey, not justregarding the spiritual, but also the mundane. We have to get backto the space of "it takes a village." We have to not only acknowledgethe space of the divine feminine, but also the role of the woman inthe African American community.The term "Mama" was not a title that was thrown aroundloosely. It is greatly respected, and, historically, "Mama" was givento the black women who were mamas to their own children, as wellas to the white children they were taking care of. It's exclusivelymeant for the black woman who does the work: nurturing, teaching, gathering information, etc. This book also provides not only thatspace of respect for the mama, but respect for the work: midwives, doulas, etc. She nurtures through spiritual situations, but she feedsso many bellies at the same time.It is important to know that using nature to heal has been goingon for a very long time, but, now, it is getting a new birth. More andmore people are getting into it, but the information that we havenow is not by people who look like us. It is not their lineage. Ourchildren need to be able to pick up a book and learn about them-selves from u