Rising Up from the Blood (BOOK REVIEW)
Rising Up from the Blood
A Legacy Reclaimed, a Bridge Forward
by Sarah Washington O’Neal Rush
Foreword by Tony Rose
Solid Rock Book Publishing
Paperback, $16.95
276 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-692-31274-2
Book
Review by Kam Williams
“I
am proud and honored to be the great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington. The
day I went to my first Washington
family reunion, I had no idea how dramatically my reality was about to change…
When I first stepped foot on the campus of the
renowned Tuskegee
University, something
magical happened… I had an epiphany and was immediately inspired to improve my
life.
Prior
to the reunion, I was going in the wrong direction… I didn’t realize from
whence I came… By the time I was 16, I had become a lost soul, confused about
life.
It
wasn’t until I arrived in Tuskegee
for the first time in my life that I would bear witness to my foundation—a
foundation that was there all along. That’s when I began to live on purpose. It
is also why I now feel a burning obligation to share my story…
It
is my hope that this book will empower others to change unhealthy mindsets,
increase levels of self-worth, and instill a healthy sense of self-love and
self-respect within.”
--Excerpted
from the Preface (pages 1-3)
Despite being a
direct descendant of Booker T. Washington, Sarah Washington O’Neal wasn’t born
with a silver spoon in her mouth. Quite the contrary, she and her big
brother James were raised on a rough side of Oakland, California
by a single-mother who never mentioned their famous forbear. Perhaps she was
ashamed by her relatively-lowly station and having to hold two jobs just to
keep a roof over their heads after being abandoned by her husband.
The absence of a
father figure would have a profound effect on Sarah, who ended up involved with
a series of inappropriate partners. This was reflected in her picking bad boys
who abused, cheated on, exploited, beat and/or raped her. That futile search
for male validation started when she was molested at the age of 9, an event triggering
a rapid descent leading to an unplanned pregnancy by the time she was 15.
Sarah’s baby-daddy neither
stuck around to raise Mario, Jr., nor paid much in terms of child support,
which meant the financial burden of the baby first fell squarely on the
shoulders of her already cash-strapped mom. And when that responsibility proved
too much for the beleaguered grandmother, the troubled teen was forced to fend
for herself and the infant on her own.
Consequently, she
soon became dependent on government subsidies like welfare, food stamps, public
housing and Social Security benefits (after her father turned 65). Meanwhile, between her substance abuse problems (alcohol, weed,
coke) and poor choice of men, it was little wonder that she had another child
out-of-wedlock just a half-dozen years later.
Sarah got her act
together after attending a Booker T. Washington family reunion, but not before having
been tested in more ways than the Biblical character Job. Thanks to a
combination of Christianity and psychotherapy, she finally found a righteous
path once and for all.
A faith-based resolve
has served Sarah well ever since, and she and husband Anthony Rush are happily
married and raising a beautiful blended family. Her triumph over the odds is
recounted in revealing fashion in Rising Up from the Blood, a mesmerizing
memoir that reads like the literary equivalent of a TV soap opera.
Besides Sarah’s personal
story, this riveting autobiography includes a family photo album containing snapshots
of Booker T. and the rest of her relatives, as well as snippets of sound advice
for other lost souls looking to turn their lives around. An empowering opus by
a thriving survivor who has ultimately proven herself deserving of her very impressive
family pedigree.
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