DEAR READER, Thank you for picking up my latest novel, Take My Hand. This story means so much to me, and I am hopeful you will share my passion. Before I began research for this book, I knew nothing about the story of the Relf sisters. I knew more generally that there had been forced sterilizations during this time period, especially in North Carolina, Virginia, and California, but I was stunned to learn about these minor children in Alabama. My dad graduated from Tuskegee Institute in the late 1960s, so I have always felt a personal connection to the school and to the area surrounding it. When I was growing up, he shared with me stories of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, but I never comprehended, until researching for this book, the massive scale and hubris with which the federal government carried out that “study.” So when I learned about the Relf sisters, I immediately connected the two events. I have two daughters of my own, and as a mother, I knew I had to write about it. Rather than try to re-create the story of those sisters, I became more interested in a line I discovered in a contemporaneous issue of the Montgomery Advertiser in which the white supervising nurse alleged, in her defense, that all of the nurses at the clinic were Black. That was the only such descriptive detail I found, and to this day I have found no further corroborating evidence. Even so, her words ignited my imagination as I tried to sort through issues of accountability. How might our well-intentioned good deeds go horribly wrong? What are the larger operating forces that created this pain, and how can we rectify those mistakes of the past? One answer to those questions is to begin by remembering. Just the act of memory and acknowledgment is a powerful activating energy that can then motivate us to take more significant action. I hope that is the case for you as you read this book. Please read it and share with your friends. Talk about it with your friends and loved ones. And know that my heart is right there with yours as you do. Sincerely, Dolen
Timeline 1927 Buck v. Bell, by a vote of 8 to 1, affirmed the constitutionality of Virginia’s law allowing state-enforced sterilization.
1932 The USPHS (United States Public Health Service) begins working with the Tuskegee Institute in what was originally called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphillis in the Negro Male.
1933 Eugenics Board of North Carolina (EBNC) formed by the North Carolina State Legislature. Between 1929 and 1974, more than 7,600 people are sterilized under North Carolina’s eugenics program.
1951 Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman, visits Johns Hopkins for treatment of a tumor; without her knowledge or approval, the cells from her biopsy are used for research purposes and will later revolutionize the world of biomedical research.
JULY 25 , 1972 Associated Press reporter Jean Heller breaks the story that the federal government left hundreds of Black men in rural Alabama untreated for syphilis for forty years for research purposes.
JANUARY 25, 1973 Roe v. Wade decision issued by the Supreme Court, striking down a Texas statute banning abortion and effectively legalizing the procedure across the United States.
JUNE 14, 1973 Mary Alice Relf (age twelve) and Minnie Relf (age fourteen) are surgically sterilized in a Montgomery, Alabama, hospital.
MARCH 15 , 1974 Relf v. Weinberger case decided by U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
1977 North Carolina Eugenics Board abolished.
OCTOBER 1992 Depo-Provera approved for contraceptive use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
2001 Virginia General Assembly passes a joint resolution acknowledging Virginia’s role in the involuntary sterilization of an estimated 8,000 people and expressing regret for those actions.
2021 California State Legislature passes the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program that will compensate victims of sterilization programs.
P L AY L I ST “Music on my Mind” by Stevie Wonder
“You Are the Sunshine of My Life” by Stevie Wonder
“Neither One of Us”
by Gladys Knight & the Pips
“This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” by Natalie Cole
“ABC”
by the Jackson 5
“Birds and Bees” by Rufus and Carla
“Behave Yourself ”
by Booker T. and the MGs
“Just Another Day” (traditional gospel)
“Think”
by Aretha Franklin
“The Dark End of the Street” by James Carr
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding
Resources for Reproductive Justice Advocates for Youth Black Mamas Matter Alliance Black Women’s Health Imperative California Latinas for Reproductive Justice Center for Reproductive Rights Forward Together Harambee Village Ipas National Abortion Federation National Institute for Reproductive Health National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice National Organization for Women National Women’s Health Network Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center New Voices for Reproductive Justice Physicians for Reproductive Health Planned Parenthood SisterLove, Inc SisterSong Social Workers for Reproductive Justice Southern Poverty Law Center SPARK Reproductive Justice Now! Surge Reproductive Justice URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity Women’s Forum of New York
Discussion Questions 1. Perkins-Valdez used the real-life 1973 case Relf v. Weinberger as a launching point for writing this novel. Did you know about this moment in history or similar stories? If not, why do you think these important historical moments are not more widely known?
2. Take My Hand is told through the eyes of present-day Civil revealing to her grown daughter what happened in 1973. Why do you think the author chose to tell the story this way? Why is it important for us to pass on our family histories?
3. History repeats what we don’t remember. With infamous cases like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the use of Henrietta Lacks’s cells without her knowledge, what do you think is the importance of medical ethics in today’s society?
4. So many people in this novel have good intentions—even Mrs. Seager believes she is doing what’s right. What are the dangers of good intentions? What responsibility do we have for the fallout of our “good deeds”?
5. Civil and the nurses at the clinic try to make amends for the unintentional harm they have done to patients over the years. Do you think redemption was possible for them?
6. Present-day Civil goes to visit her old friend Alicia. In what ways have the two women changed since their days of working together at the clinic?
7. In the book, Civil recounts, “Our little family managed to live dignified in undignified times. Daddy shined his shoes every morning. Mama wore earrings. These little acts might seem simple to you, but baby, let me tell you. They held back the storm.” What is the significance of living “dignified” for both the Townsend and the Williams families?
8. How do you think India and Erica’s story would have unfolded if Civil hadn’t stepped into their lives?
9. Why do you think Civil never married? 10. Do you think Civil was truly attracted to Mace Williams, or do you think it was a product of Civil’s romantic notion of what a hero is?
11. The ideas of being a savior and being an advocate are important themes in the book. Who in your mind was a savior? Who in your mind was an advocate? What are examples of ways these roles are different?
12. The book is set in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1973. What is the importance of time and place in the novel?