Mamma and Me

Through the lives, history, and poetry of two extraordinary women, Mamma and Me: Our Poetry, Our Lives reveals African-American thought, culture, and progress from the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 to the 21st century.

Vesta Coleman was a teacher and a chaplain, poet laureate of Anniston, Alabama; Sunday School teacher and pianist; celebrated orator; oratorical contest trainer; mentor; and respected community leader.

Elizabeth Emily Coleman, her daughter, is an ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church, USA, has earned Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, and has traveled the world.

The lives and writings of these two women span over a century of history. Their writing is musical, revealing, and resonates just as closely with a modern audience as they did when they were written.

Elizabeth (née Bessie) Emily Coleman was born in Anniston, Alabama, in 1951. Seeking equality and opportunity, she left the Deep South to earn her BA degree at Capital University in Ohio, spending her junior year studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. After graduating, she taught English in Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa, and later had a nineteen-year career as an Employment Interviewer with the State of Alabama. Answering the call to ministry, she earned Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. She continues to serve as an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church, USA.