GUMBO FOR THE SOUL

About the Book

About the Author

Beverly Black Johnson hails from the San Francisco Bay Area, born in the liberal city of San Francisco, raised in East Palo Alto from the age of six. The youngest of four, if asked to define her child hood she would say in one word-lonely. By age 17 Beverly would experience the death of her step-father, the suicide of her only brother and would barely graduate high school in 1977. Between 1977 and 1980 she made several attempts to attend college only to drop out yielding her destiny to a booming electronics industry where she would learn the trade from laser’s to electrodes and everything in between. This trade would prove valuable for over 20 years with bouts of drug and alcohol abuse intertwined. In 1982 she gave birth to her first child, a very healthy baby boy. In 1984 Beverly, after falling deep into the crack epidemic, gave birth to an under weight, crack addicted baby girl. By age 3 and 5 the kids were brought into the "system" by her father unbeknownst to her mother and sister's who fought tirelessly to keep the kids together -as Beverly's bout with drugs continued. Years later after going in and out of drug programs, jail and the streets, Beverly moved to Oakland to assist in her father’s general contracting business and to “get clean.” Beverly became active in the reunification process to have her children returned to her as she began to clean up her life. That was short lived because Beverly would be forced by a child welfare system to move back to San Mateo County or risk her children being moved to a foster home in the county of Oakland. To prevent the uprooting of her children, Beverly hesitantly moved back to East Palo Alto, "the old hood and the old friends", only for the drug cycle to begin again. In December 1991 she gave birth to a baby boy who tested positive for crack and wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital with her. A change would come that would allow her to make a vow to turn her life around. She never looked back. Beverly did complete the reunification process and did regain custody of her children. She was told she would never get her baby boy that tested positve. She regained custody of him when he was 18 months old. Her story will be told in a full biographical account of her life’s trials and tribulations. Now with 18 years “crackfree” Beverly has returned to her first love, writing. She is the publisher of the award-winning book, Gumbo For The Soul: The Recipe for Literacy in the Black Community which garnered an endorsement from talk show host, Tavis Smiley. She continues to aspire with writing, releasing a 2nd Gumbo book, Gumbo For The Soul: Here's Our Child, Where's The Village?" Gumbo For The Soul Publications continues to produce a series of books and will release Gumbo For The Soul: Women of Honor: Special Pink Edition heightening awareness of Breast Cancer and honoring women that have made a difference in the lives of the anthology submitter's. Deadline to submit: May 31, 2010 Due out: October 2010- Breast Cancer Awareness Month-Tell your/herStory. Visit www.gumboforthesoul.com Beverly has found her true gift in writing poetry with gospel lyrics being her passion. Life has been no cake walk but now that Beverly has turned hers around she has much to be thankful for. She lost her mother in 2007 but not before thanking her for her relentless fight to keep her first 2 children from being separated by the system prior to her regaining custody of them. They are now grown and have their own story to tell. Beverly gave birth a fourth time to a beautiful girl, now 14. Beverly continues to work volunteering her time in the areas of health and education awareness. She is also available to conduct workshops for event fundraising and speaking engagements. Her testimony bears truth that All Things are possible through Christ Jesus. Contact prophecy616@yahoo.com Be Blessed with success, ~Beverly Black Johnson Networks: www.facebook.com/bblackjohnson www.twitter.com/gumboforthesoul www.myspace.com/gumboforthesoul Crusaders for the Cause: http://crusadersforthecause.ning.com/profile/BeverlyBlackJohnson Remembering Michael: http://rememberingmichael.ning.com Favorite links: Our Daily Bread, read it at www.rbc.org Synthia Saint James www.synthiasaintjames.com Essence Magazine www.essence.com Black Enterprise www.blackenterprise.com Eurweb Urban Report www.eurweb.com Shoutlife www.shoutlife.com