Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing

Love, love, love this book! Love the inclusion of the Index of Images. Love that in addition to the typical breakdown of herbal constituents and how to address specific conditions, there is the occasional inclusion of prayer, meditation, stillness, inhalation methods, bathing and more. Love the knowledge of traditional African American herbal lore which cannot be valued highly enough. Trust, there's so much more to love in this book. Just get it and see.

This was an inspiring book! I really enjoyed the stories and learning about the rich traditions of African American healing. It’s beautifully written and filled with wisdom — a wonderful read for anyone interested in history, culture, and natural healing practices.

Reading, "Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing," by Michele E. Lee was truly enjoyable for me. I was filled with memories of the summers I spent with my grandmother in Knoxville, Tennessee. On one occasion I tagged along with my grandmother when she went picking vegetables. As a child, my mother received cod liver oil from her parents. I found it interesting that experiences and thoughts I had years ago would resurface in my mind. Thoughts and experiences I hadn't reflected on for decades. My cousin ate starch. It would be possible for me to draw many illustrations of the lives of the people in that book from the lives of my relatives in the south. As with many of the stories in the book, I was able to relate to many of them. My awe and fascination grew as I read about the lives of our black ancestors. I did learn a great deal after finishing this book. In the book, I split hairs over two specific statements: 1) The author claimed materialism was part of the American Dream. A house, car, etc., might not be the American Dream for everyone. The American Dream was a symbol of identity for many people. Having the faith to move forward even without knowing how to do so. They could achieve their goals by using their rights, freedoms, and God-given abilities. Our ancestors were manipulated mentally, spiritually, personally, financially, and psychologically to the point that they never got a fair shake in this country. It was impossible for black people to achieve high levels of success, whatever that meant to them. 2) According to the author, black people did not die from chronic diseases decades ago. There were relatives of mine who lived in rural areas who died of strokes and heart disease. I could never understand the way of life of people who worked with roots and plants. I had become accustomed to modern medicine. It was also arduous, exhausting, and backbreaking work in those fields. Michele E. Lee's book, "Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing," would be recommended.

This book is informative and useful.

I love this book so much. Go get yours now!!!

I've started reading & I'm so enthralled by it already. Reading about Ms. McCloud & Mr. Pete. I do hope everyone that gets or receives this book READS it as such, including the remedies and recipes, as it should be read, and not just reference it for social media or when they wanna know how to make a tea or something. This book is valuable in more ways than one. Thanks to Michelle E. Lee for this eternal knowledge!

Very informative and well written. My only reason for giving it 4 stars is that I feel it's important to have vivid, sharp, full color photos when dealing with plants. The descriptions are good but they can o ly get you so far. I don't want to have to ask myself "is this lavender - blue, more lavender or mostly blue?" When I'm out looking for plants. Other than not being in color, this is a great book

I love this book. It's a moment in history that was captured and Michelle did it at the perfect time. It made me want to talk to my grandmother and ask about her time growing up. This is the perfect book to be apart of your book collection. The only thing I would say isn't great about it, is the pictures being black and white. I believe when dealing with herbal books and learning about plants, the pictures should not be drawn nor in black and white photo. It should be clear colored pictures taken with a camera. So we don't have to guess if the plant we're looking at in real life is the black and white picture or the drawn picture we're looking at in a book. Other than that, it's an amazing book, the stories makes me love it.