Bernice L. McFadden

“We forget about the people we love sometimes.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

“Writing kept her sane. Kept her form spinning out of control. Kept her tongue still whenever some white person spoke down to…

— Bernice L. McFadden

“she swung like a pendulum, ticking away the seconds until she would be dead.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

I write to breathe life back into memory.

— Bernice L. McFadden

“she'd seen people stand on the shoulders of hate and pluck money and power from the very top shelves of the universe.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

“Over time her inhibitions took shelter in the corner of the room and Easter allowed the music to swallow her,”

— Bernice L. McFadden

“we ace boon coons forever.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

“she would watch with glee as Rain was relegated to standing in her shoes; Easter hoped to God they pinched.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

Only the Strong is a lushly atmospheric and passionately written piece of work, bursting with colorful characters that shine on every page.

— Bernice L. McFadden

“For many years, Tass's life was like an echo.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

Listen, if you choose to believe nothing else that transpires here, believe this: your body does not have a soul; your soul…

— Bernice L. McFadden

“Anger eats up years faster than happiness, chile.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

“That’s who we were, wartorn meadows on the verge of new growth.”

— Bernice L. McFadden

“The people in his Harlem did not speak, they sang their way through conversations and disagreements,”

— Bernice L. McFadden

“I write to breath life back into memory to remind African-Americans of our rich and textured history. I also see myself as…

— Bernice L. McFadden

“In 1922 everything changed again. The Eskimo pie was invented; James Joyce's Ulysses was printed in Paris; snow fell on Mauna Loa,…

— Bernice L. McFadden

“She had looked in the mirror a million times and only saw the brown of her skin and not the magic flowing…

— Bernice L. McFadden