I don’t need an entire hand to count how many memoirs I’ve read in my life thus far. The ones that I have read are from celebrities, so while I’m not familiar with their experience, I’m at least familiar with the person. Call Me Freedom: A Black American Woman Breaks From Empire by Tasha Keeble is something completely different. 

Tasha Keeble is African American, a single mother of two adult children, and has encountered hardship that forced her to confront her mental health and overcome adversity to make it through. Myself being white-skinned and having encountered fairly little adversity (at least in comparison), make it evident that the only similarities Tasha and I share are being female, American, and mothers. However, upon progressing through Call Me Freedom, I started to believe that this was probably a good thing. 

The entire memoir is written in the form of letters to her estranged father, whose death she learned about two months after he was buried, by her ultra-religious aunt. Fourteen years later she began this project, and truly examined who she is as a Black woman and coming to terms with American history that complicates life as a person of color. 

Keeble herself said that she was inspired to start this book after not being able to sleep for months while Donald Trump was president. While not all members of The Nerd Cantina share my view – I agree with her anger. As an English major during college, I know too well that literature is often tied with history – and Call Me Freedom fits the bill. Keeble describes how she researched and felt inspired by the lives of her ancestors, and how she felt obligated to put everyone else’s needs before her own (as a woman and fellow mother, I definitely relate to this, at least). 

That being said, this book will definitely resonate with readers of color. On the other hand, it will probably make white-skinned readers uncomfortable – but I think that’s the point. As a white woman reading a black woman’s memoir, I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn about another person’s completely different experiences, and appreciate the format in which it was written. Keeble demonstrates her writing talent, whether she’s describing the deaths of her brothers or an uncomfortable assignment in which she had to imagine her parents conceiving her. 

My only complaint is the non-chronological order of the “story.” Keeble somewhat goes back and forth between life events, which kind of threw me off. However, it could be argued that this format made the story that much more compelling, rather than feeding the events in sequential order. Call Me Freedom is Keeble’s story of coming to terms with all levels of herself – how she chose to approach that process is up to her. 

Tasha joined me for a Cantina Conversation to discuss her experiences she describes in the book, her career as a professor in the Bay area, and she even put me on the spot by asking me why I felt uncomfortable at times while reading her book. To be honest, I was really nervous about sitting down for a chat with Tasha, but she is just as sincere and personable in conversation as she is in her memoir. Keep an ear out for the interview in an upcoming episode of The Nerd Cantina Show podcast and pre-order Call Me Freedom: A Black American Woman Breaks From Empire, available September 14.