Not All Poor People Are Black

This is a collection of personal essays on a range of topics, several of which emphasize our mutual dependency. Some essays focus on personal and spiritual development, while others are on issues that impact our interactions with one another in the public sphere: the environment, economics, entertainment, mass transit, politics, and race relations.

In this era of divisiveness, this collection of essays emphasizes our mutual dependency and covers a range of topics from personal and spiritual development to issues that impact our interactions with one another in the public sphere: the environment, economics, entertainment, mass transit, politics, and race relations. We can learn to acknowledge, appreciate and accept one another, no matter what our differences are. Here are some guidelines for doing so. Prepare to have your mind rocked and your soul nurtured!

“Choosing a Life in the Dark Age,” is one of the most courageous and powerful pieces that I’ve read in a very long time. “Rules for Women Who Can’t Do Enough” feels so personal, that it could be a private letter.
                                      Dr. Sherri Bucher, Indianapolis

JANET CHEATHAM BELL is an author, an editor, a recovering academic, a mom to comedian W. Kamau Bell, and a grateful grandmother to the two smartest, funniest girls ever born. In 1984 she resigned from her position as Senior Editor for a textbook publisher to pursue her lifelong dream of creating and publishing books. Her first title, Famous Black Quotations and some not so famous, was published in 1986. She has since published nine more quotation collections. In 2013, Bell was cited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. on national television as “a pioneer in doing books of black quotations.” Bell is also the author of Victory of the Spirit, her first essay collection, and a memoir, The Time and Place That Gave Me Life. Not All Poor People Are Black is her second collection of essays and her thirteenth book.