Carved in Ebony by Jasmine L. Holmes

Carved in Ebony: Lessons from the Black Women Who Shaped Us is a short book that is part biography and part memoir by Jasmine L. Holmes (daughter of Voddie Baucham).

This book tells the brief but inspirational stories of Elizabeth Freeman, Sara Griffith Stanley, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Amanda Berry Smith, Maria Fearing, Maria Stewart, Lucy Craft Laney, Charlotte Forten Grimke, and Sarah Mapps Douglass. Some of the women I was familiar with from my time in high school, and from reading books, some I learned about through this book.

These women all came from different backgrounds. Slavery, mixed, etc. Some were married, some weren’t married. Some had many children and suffered losses, some never had children. Some were missionaries abroad and at home.

Holmes says at one point in the book, “This selection process was not by design, but in the Christian subculture that tends to prize marriage and children as the foremost ways of bringing glory to God and pursuing Christian service as a woman, these ten women were able to have fruitful lives of active service for God’s glory without settling down.” As a single person, I appreciated that.

This is a really great book to read if you’re looking to learn more about black Christian women but do keep in mind that sometimes there’s more about the author or her personal commentary than the actual person.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a free copy for review.