Black Pearls: Daily Meditations, Affirmations, and Inspirations for African-Americans

by Eric V Copage

Overview

Eric V. Copage's Black Pearls is an extraordinary book of inspirational thoughts and practical advice for African-Americans. The 365 quotes that begin each day's entry range from African proverbs to wisdom from Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm X, Terry McMillan, Bill Cosby, Rosa Parks, Spike Lee, Marian Wright Edelman, Alice Walker, and Martin Luther King, Jr., among hundreds of other diverse and accomplished people of African descent. And each day's entry covers a new topic: Love, Anger, Pride, Dieting, Stress, Stereotypes, Power, and Success are just a few! From the daily inspirations, author Eric V. Copage suggests meditations and specific actions that will help readers boost their spirits -- and achieve their dreams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688122911
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/09/2005
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	167,000
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 3.96(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Eric V. Copage, a reporter at the New York Times, has also been an editor at the New York Times Magazine and a music columnist for Essence.

Read an Excerpt

FAITH

I've had so many downs that I knew the law of averages would be in my favor one day.

--DOUG WILLIAMS

When life seems to bring nothing but a string of defeats and disappointments, we've got to have faith that something good is still in store for us. With this faith, we can forge ahead and continue to put forth our best effort. Without it, we give up and accept what comes our way, good or bad. Our precious dreams begin to seem absurdities.

It is imperative that we see ourselves as worthy and deserving of a good life. There may be rejections; it may take us a while; but as long as we stay in the game, there's every chance we'll score. On the sidelines, we can only watch as others do the work and the winning.

On this day, I will spend five minutes to relax and visualize success in achieving one of my goals.

January 1

PLANNING

I don't like short-term solutions; they can come back and bite you in the behind later.

--CAROLINE R. JONES

Sometimes short-term solutions are necessary. A bit of fast and fancy footwork can get this month's rent or tuition paid, or a school or work assignment turned in on time. But a lifetime of close calls is stressful and fatiguing. Time spent constantly scrambling to meet our deadlines can deplete us of energy better applied to pursuing our dreams and enjoying our lives.

What do we need to do to make our lives easier, more manageable? Let's do some planning. The quick fix may serve to get us through a crisis, but crises recur when theunderlying cause is not addressed.

On this day, I will take five minutes to write downone of my goals and devise a long-term strategy as tohow to accomplish that goal.

January 2

HERITAGE

For us, Africa is not so much a lost continent as an imagined one.

--JACK E. WHITE

There is irony in the fact that many of us are homesick for a place we really do not know. It rests with us to learn about the birthplace of our ancestors.

We should all know, for example, about the Kingdoms of Ghana, Songhay, and Mali. We are enriched when we study the complex religious heritage and philosophy of life of African peoples--among them the Yoruba and the Kongo.

Let us go beyond our kente cloth ties and kente to learn of our heritage before our people were chained and brought here. Our culture was stripped from and denied our enslaved ancestors, but we are able and morally bound to pick it up again.

On this day, I will take five minutes to meditateupon something 1 have that reminds me of myAfrican descent-it may be a piece of African cloth, asculpture, a family photograph-and let it inspire meto learn more about Africa and do the best I can inwhatever I have to accomplish today.

January 3

Black Pearls. Copyright © by Eric Copage. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.