The Waterbearers: A Memoir of Mothers and Daughters

'Wherever there is water, there is mystery. And mystery breeds mythology.'

When Sasha Bonét’s grandmother, Betty Jean, raised eleven children in a Texas bayou house, she did it alone, creating a home that was the heart of their family. Her daughter, Mama Connie, vowed to live differently but found herself echoing her mother’s struggles. Now, Sasha navigates motherhood, reflecting on the legacies of Black women like Nina Simone, Betty Davis, Michelle Obama, Rosa Parks and Darnella Frazier (the woman who told the world about George Floyd) to build a portrait of Black womanhood through time.

From mundane yet powerful mornings at the kitchen table to moments of courageously taking on the world at large in the fight for dignity, Bonét explores the trials and triumphs of Black matriarchy – escape, promise, burden, assent and rebellion – weaving personal history with cultural narratives.

With clear-eyed tenderness, The Waterbearers reveals intimate vignettes mixed with cultural history of Black women who have built legacies and changed the world through the ties of love – and complexity – that bind them.