MaryAnne Howland's son Max is one of the one-in-three children in America being raised without a father in the home. She first heard of the idea of a “Black Mitzvah†from a friend who enlisted some very special men in her life to mentor her son. Intrigued, she borrowed and expanded upon her idea to create a celebration that would forever imprint the commencement of my son’s journey into manhood. To help fill the father-shaped hole in Max's life as he transitioned from boyhood to manhood, MaryAnne organized a Black Mitzvah rite of passage celebration for him, inviting four men from different corners of her life – an engineer, a philanthropist, a publisher, and a financial planner – to become his mentors. As she began to design her son’s Black Mitzvah, she remained focused on the idea that it would be a creative expression of love, learning, mentorship, and community. As it turned out, what began as a celebration has turned into a life-long commitment from four men. Max has faced many challenges. As a boy without a consistent father figure in his life, as an African-American male in a time when race relations in this country continue to be fraught, and also because Max was born premature and as a result has cerebral palsy, he has had to be a true warrior. Through his adolescence, Max's mentors have shared valuable insights with him about what it means to be a good man in the face of life's challenges. Joined by Dr. Raymond Winbush, MaryAnne is bringing the lessons recounted in the book to Busboys, to serve as a powerful roadmap for anyone wishing to support boys as they approach manhood.
This event is free and open to all, accessible through our Facebook and Youtube pages (@busboysandpoets).
Our event begins at 6:00pm with an introduction from a member of our team, after which our guests will launch into their discussion. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase before, during, and after the event!
We recommended that viewers RSVP in order to receive direct links to the event from Busboy and Poets Books, as well as any updates.
First and foremost, MaryAnne Howland is a proud mother and advocate for persons with disabilities. She is the founder and CEO of Ibis Communications, an award-winning branding and marketing strategy solutions firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2012, she launched the Global Diversity Leadership Exchange at the New York Stock Exchange. A member of the UN Global Compact, Global Diversity Leadership Exchange is a leadership development program for senior executives to facilitate a continuing dialogue on global diversity, equity, and inclusion at the intersection of sustainability. She also serves on several boards including the American Sustainable Business Network and J.E.D.I. Collaborative, a justice, equity, diversity and inclusion initiative serving the natural products industry. A recipient of many awards, Howland considers being named a Working Mother magazine’s Advertising Working Mother of the Year her highest honor. With her first book, Warrior Rising: How Four Men Helped a Boy on His Journey to Manhood, MaryAnne has founded blackmitzvah.org to fuel the movement to traditionalize rites of passage for boys and girls, and to support a community dialogue about parenting and Mentorship.
Dr Raymond Winbush is a research professor and the Director of the Institute for Urban Research. As a scholar and activist, he is known for his systems-thinking approaches to understanding the impact of racism/white supremacy on the global African community. His writings, consultations, and research have been instrumental in understanding developmental stages in Black males, public policy and its connection to compensatory justice, relationships between Black males and females, infusion of African studies into school curricula, and the impact of hip hop culture on the contemporary American landscape. He has served as a faculty member and administrator at a number of universities including: Oakwood University, Alabama A&M University, Vanderbilt University, and Fisk University. Over the last 40 years, Winbush established numerous projects to raise awareness of America's race relations and their impact upon the lives of Black people. He received grants to further his work from the National Science Foundation, Cleveland Foundation, Job Training Partnership Act of 1982, West African Research Association, Pitney Bowes, Inc., the Ford Motor Company, and the Kellogg Foundation. In 2000, Dr. Winbush helped organize the first international conference of the National Council for Black Studies in Ghana, and in 2002 he aided in establishing the Global Afrikan Congress, the largest pan-African organization in the world. Dr. Winbush appeared as race relations expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005. His books, The Warrior Method: A Program for Rearing Healthy Black Boys and Should America Pay? Slavery and The Raging Debate on Reparations were published in 2001 and 2003 respectively. His latest book, Belinda's Petition: A Concise History of Reparations For The Transatlantic Slave Trade (is considered a "prequel" to Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations, and provides an overview of how reparations for the TransAtlantic Slave Trade has been a consistent theme among African people for the past 500 years.
