Singing the Blues

By Gladys Ijeoma Akunna

Singing the Blues is a story of undying courage and hope. It tells of the ultimate redemption of African-Americans, a people displaced from their homes and cultures, yet connected to their broader family through an indomitable spirit. Intended for collective, creative psychotherapy, it illustrates the courage to look inward and confront hidden terrors, while seeking honest answers to questions on the complexity of race, identity, gender, slavery, oppression, justice and, ultimately, redemption.
The collective spirit of African-Americans--their history and spirituality, education and miseducation, art and activism, innovation and invention, culture and beauty--is rolled into one spell-binding story. Our protagonist, Jemima Player, an African-American woman who found her authentic self, walks a winding journey toward her best self. Having grown up poor and without a father, Jemima had a friend in her sickly, adoring mother, Jena, enjoyed companionship and loyalty with friends and mentors, and found a loving, passionate relationship with her husband. As her wondrous life unfolds, would this be enough to fulfill her dream of a great America?

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Jun 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781489726964

Gladys Ijeoma Akunna

REVIEW BY EMILLE BRYANT Dr. Gladys Akunna adds her powerful voice to the unfolding story of the displaced and despised people now called African-Americans. She shares the story of a wonderful young woman, gifted with talent beyond her birthplace. Because she recognizes her talent as a way out of the neighborhood and condition that surrounded her youth, she navigates life with eyes both open and closed. Her journey takes her through the history, challenges and triumphs of Black people in America, a nation who reveres their art yet hates their presence. Looking back at a life that pushed her to an emotional breaking point before she became a legendary performer, Jemima’s childhood memories challenged her faith and became the genesis of many conflicts throughout her youth. In college, she became an activist, leading rallies that recalled America’s tumultuous civil rights era, where she began learning about her roots: Africa, the Middle Passage, and the hate and hope borne of slavery. Jemima’s story winds into a romance offering her a renewed faith and restore both her soul and that of her turbulent, beloved nation. Emille Bryant Author of Start With A Sparkle President, go:IKIGAI LLC

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SINGING

THE BLUES

Gladys Ijeoma Akunna

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Copyright © 2020 Gladys Ijeoma Akunna.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Art Credit: Prince Neville Akpobasa ([e-mail])

Acknowledgments:

Mark Dawkins: I See Yellow: The Dornesife Center Connector,

Drexel University Writers Room, Summer 2018.

Kaliyah Pitts: As I Look at This Picture I See: The Dornesife Center

Connector, Drexel University Writers Room, Summer 2018.

The Chairman and Staff, Successful Aging Care Net Inc.,

46, Garett Rd, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-2695-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-2696-4 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date:  08/26/2020

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

About the Author

To: Fidelma Uzoechi Okwesa,

Regina Brown Simpson and The President,

Staff and Students of Drexel University, Pennsylvania;

with thanks and appreciation.

Also to Mr. George Floyd of Minneapolis:

Sadly your life was taken before – it seemed,

its full measure would be known

but you inspired America to address its

long standing, aching heart.

By opening the door for a nation to recreate

itself, you will always be remembered.

Thank you.

Singing the Blues is a story of undying courage and hope. It tells of the ultimate redemption of African-Americans, a people displaced from their homes and cultures, yet connected to their broader family through an indomitable spirit. Intended for collective, creative psychotherapy, it illustrates the courage to look inward and confront hidden terrors, while seeking honest answers to questions on the complexity of race, identity, gender, slavery, oppression, justice and, ultimately, redemption.

The collective spirit of African-Americans—their history and spirituality, education and miseducation, art and activism, innovation and invention, culture and beauty—is rolled into one spell-binding story. Our protagonist, Jemima Player, an African-American woman who found her authentic self, walks a winding journey toward her best self. Having grown up poor and without a father, Jemima had a friend in her sickly, adoring mother, Jena, enjoyed companionship and loyalty with friends and mentors, and found a loving, passionate relationship with her husband. As her wondrous life unfolds, would this be enough to fulfil her dream of a great America?

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CHAPTER ONE

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C LAD SIMPLY, BUT ELEGANTLY IN A flowing light blue boubou over a woven bright colored long skirt, with a matching headgear, wrapped delicately in a neat pile around her head, her beautiful facial features and stunning physique were accentuated by the bright light focused on her.

Jemima Roads stood poised on the raised platform of the stage in the Inner City Square Garden, Los Angeles, clutching tightly at her price – an Oscar award for her new musical hit. A perfect combination of beauty and brains, as her looks projected, she cut out the portrait of a queen.

She looked at the crowd of enchanted admirers. A mixed crowd of white and black faces waved excitedly at her, and her eyes blurred with tears. Holding back the emotions within her that surged for an outlet, she waved back at them with all the love in her heart.

Thank you all, she huskily muttered into the microphone. This is the happiest moment of my life.

More applause re-sounded. She waited for the noise to die down. Finally, it subsided. She resumed speaking:

I dedicate this award to the living memory of all the lives that inspired my creativity. Without them, I would have nothing to sing about.

A thunderous ovation followed her speech. She seemed to have fixed the right peg in the right hole. Moments later, Johnny Roads was by her, kissing her tenderly. And when he proudly but gently escorted her down the stage into the waiting embrace of a warm crowd of friends, she knew that whatever she did to have attracted such admirations must have been done right. As she hugged fans that extended to her their hands of friendship, cameras clicked away. Hounds of journalists, anxious to unravel the mystery of her genius, trooped around her, popping dozens of intimate but intelligent questions at her.

She politely and patiently answered their questions, radiating an aura of enviable confidence. Johnny keenly watched her. Her spectacular success was enough to make any man proud, and though he felt eclipsed by it, he was glad to be identified with her.

Later that evening, he drove her home in silence– to The Royals’ – a prestigious hotel on highbrow Park Lane in Los Angeles, not willing to intrude in her thoughts. He knew that the events of the evening had greatly affected her and no doubt awakened poignant memories in her – memories she had reverently preserved and treasured, until their experiences reverberated in her existence.

This evening of all evenings, she was unusually calm, transfused with a saturated peace. It was a deep spirituality he had come to associate with her, especially in contemplative moments like this. She appeared to have withdrawn inwards, in a mystic communication with her essence. The serenity that enveloped her was not only infectious but also overwhelming.

He was right. Jemima maintained a deep spiritual link with her roots. Even now, long after he had kissed her goodnight, she laid fully awake on the magnificent bed she shared with him in their exquisitely furnished hotel bedroom. The bedroom light had been turned low, but sleep seemed to have evaded her. Her whole being throbbed feverishly with excitement: The light of truth, which had always guided her reality, was beaming once more, and the beguiling warmth could not be resisted.

She allowed herself to be transported to the source of that radiance. Thus, invigorated, the seemingly far away experiences that fashioned her charming personality crowded in.

She closed her eyes as if in a deep sleep.

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CHAPTER TWO

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S HE WAS A LITTLE GIRL OF about nine years, living in a little ramshackle house which served as a home for both her and her sickly but adoring mother, Jena, in Springfield, a small congested black community in Houston, in the southern belt of the United States. She never knew her father, but Jena, who without any doubt filled the vacuum he created, informed her that he left home shortly after she was born. And he never returned.

Her mother, then only a teenager, never fully recovered from the shock of her father’s strange disappearance, for he left without any trace. His cowardly act left a permanent void in her life. And she had needed him so much. She felt neglected and totally drained of life.

Although Jena had always nursed the fear that she would not be able to hold down her husband in a marriage he did not fully consent to, she had thought that the birth of Jemima would change this opinion in him. Her little baby girl looked so much like her father that she thought that having her around them would help her accomplish her heart’s desire.

But Danny Player was not a man who could be tied down by a woman’s love. He was too much of a tramp to make a commitment. His lifestyle did not give any room for that. And he was disillusioned too. Constantly haunted by degrading effects of slavery and racial inequality, he always felt and acted a little less than a full human being. Nothing Jena did to introduce some measure of dignity to his life made much difference. She simply had no chance on him.

He was selfish too. It did not matter to him that Jena also faced the predicaments he faced, and perhaps a worse predicament, being a woman. It didn’t matter that she always had the color problems defiantly staring her in the face almost all the time. Nor did it matter that she had to suffer the brunt of his crushed ego by constantly putting up with his incessant naggings and sometimes, his cruel beatings; all because she dared to believe in him – Danny was indeed incorrigible!

Such was her early beginning. However, in the midst of poverty, pains, and misery that surrounded her mother, she never suffered a lack of love and care.

After Danny left home and the situation became much more unbearable for Jena, she opted to keep her little baby against the choice of adoption. No, her mother could not bear to part with the little angel that brought so much sunshine into her gloomy life. Concerned friends in her local church had advised her against taking such a stance, but she would not yield any ground even though she knew that the rigors of her upbringing, by her alone, as a single parent portended an uphill task.

Her own family members were not, at first, very helpful either. After all, had they not warned her against marrying Danny? At the time, however, she had desperately wished to have her way, and she had it – troubles, heartaches, and all. However, no matter how unimpressive and depressive her dreams turned out, she was ready to cope with the whole mess.

So, she kept her hands busy on things. She did all sorts of menial jobs to keep her little girl and herself going. And she cried a lot too… in her quiet moments, usually, after she had laid her down to sleep in a makeshift crib. But she was determined to move on, even if for the sake of her little daughter.

She and her descendants were divorced from their ancestral culture and had been coerced into a new one. Her mixed cultural heritage was not her choice. The disorders arising from this bewildering phenomenon was better imagined than experienced, but she tried the best she could to put up with it. And though, it was not going to be easy, she set her mind to establish her only child in the foster culture that had become her own. She was going to nurture her in all ways to make her fit into the American culture. That way, she would have an identity. Jemina,