DÉJÀ VU! Spotlight Author Shirley Harris-Slaughter

Today I am honored to host Shirley Harris-Slaughter, author of Our Lady of Victory: The Saga of an African-American Catholic Community. She is a fellow member of the Rave Reviews Book Club and a wonderful and supportive member of the Rave Reviews Book Club Twitter community.

Shirley Harris-Slaughter is a Michigan native. She was baptized into the Catholic faith with her family as a child and attended Our Lady of Victory School.  Shirley lived the history growing up in this West Eight Mile Community and is uniquely qualified to write about it. She watched helplessly as her parish lost its history and identity. Her love of history has propelled her to write about Our Lady of Victory, and correct its omission from the pages of history.

She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Cleary University in Howell, Michigan. She is married to Langston and lives in Oak Park.

Shirley is now a proud member of the Rave Reviews Book Club!

As I started digging more into the records I was delighted to discover things these pioneers did that were truly groundbreaking. To learn that my best friend in high school had a parent who was blazing trails was a bit too much for me to comprehend. Gwen Keith invited me to her home to meet her parents. I would not have dreamed that I would be writing about them one day after uncovering the fact that her father, Luther Keith, was a real estate agent who looked for property for the Catholic Church’s plant expansions in the Detroit area. I always talk about this when I am doing speeches. “That we are where we are supposed to be at any given time in this life.” I believe you were meant to be wherever you are. And how about feeling like you are doing something you know you did before but can’t recall exactly how or when? I think you experience these weird feelings mostly as a child. When you get older it doesn’t come as often if at all. I think we are the closest we’ll ever be to God when we are children.

That’s déjà vu! Sometimes God is talking to us during these moments of awareness as well as uncertainty.

SHIRLEY HARRIS-SLAUGHTER, AUTHOR

 

And the saga continues….

Book Excerpt

Gwen and I became lifelong friends without my ever knowing of her

father’s contributions to the city of Detroit and Our Lady of Victory. It is not

that she was trying to keep it from me, or anyone for that matter, but her

brother Luther explains it this way. “We just took our father’s contributions

for granted, not realizing he was making history.” Their parents were people

who entertained religious and political leaders in their home.

 

This is exactly what happened in my own family with our mother. We children

took her gifts for granted, not realizing until it was pointed out by friends

what a talented individual she was. This goes back to what I said initially, that

we do not know our history, and we don’t always know when we are living it

until someone writes about it.

 

Gwen and I just naturally gravitated to one another when I started my

freshman year at St. Agnes High School (renamed Martyrs of the Uganda and

now closed). I was so shy, and she made me feel welcome that very first day.

She was so nice, and we became instant friends. I don’t know why I chose this

school; I didn’t do any research, and I didn’t discuss it with any teacher or my

friends. I chose it from several options that were presented to me. When I

found out it was an all-girls school, I asked my mother if I could go to Mumford

High School, a public school in Detroit. She said, “No!” So fate brought

me to St. Agnes and into the lives of the Keith family. I am a firm believer

that we are where we are supposed to be at any given time in this life.

Question:  What are your thoughts on being in a place and thinking that you were meant to be there or you felt like you played out that scene before?

Book title: Our Lady of Victory, the Saga of an African-American Catholic Community.

RRBC Seal of Excellence

Genre: Biography; Narrative History

You can support Shirley by buying her book at Amazon.com and supporting her on social media. You can find Shirley at the following websites:

Amazon.com

Createspace

Twitter Handle: @sharrislaughter

Facebook:      https://www.facebook.com/sharrislaughter3

Email:   sharrislaughter@gmail.com

Website: http://shirleyslaughterblog.wordpress.com/

 

***SPOTLIGHT GIVEAWAY***

To celebrate being the “SPOTLIGHT” Author for Rave Reviews Book Club, I am giving away an AUTOGRAPHED, LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER COPY of “OUR LADY OF VICTORY: THE SAGA OF AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY.” All you need to do is visit my blog and leave a comment on ANY of my posts. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win! (Only 1 comment allowed per day.) The person who leaves the most comments on my blog during my two weeks as “SPOTLIGHT” Author is the winner! It’s that simple! Restricted to US residents only. Thank you again for the support and GOOD LUCK!!