Winner of the African American Literary Show Award for Best Non-Fiction In her first book, The Presidency in Black and White, journalist April Ryan examined race in America through her experience as a White House reporter. In this book, she shifts the conversation from the White House to every home in America. At Mama’s Knee looks at race and race relations through the lessons that mothers transmit to their children. As a single African American mother in Baltimore, Ryan has struggled with each gut wrenching, race related news story to find the words to convey the right lessons to her daughters. To better understand how mothers transfer to their children wisdom on race and race relations, she reached out to other mothers—prominent political leaders like Hillary Clinton and Valerie Jarrett, celebrities like Cindy Williams, and others like Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, whose lives have been impacted by prominent race related events. At a time when Americans still struggle to address racial division and prejudice, their stories remind us that attitudes change from one generation to the next and one child at a time. Features interviews with: Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; John Lewis, congressman; Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, Secretary of State, Presidential candidate; Cindy Williams, actress known for role of Shirley on Laverne & Shirley; Cory Booker, United States senator; Christopher Darden, OJ Simpson prosecutor; Michael Cole, actor best known for role of Pete on The Mod Squad; Valerie Jarrett, presidential advisor; Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy; Iyanla Vansant, author, life coach and television personality; Harry Belafonte, singer, songwriter, actor, and social activist; President Barack Obama; and President Jimmy Carter.

"[At Mama's Knee] is an engrossing read, and Ryan's commentary is vital to understanding the problems we face as Americans if we can ever expect to end our divisiveness." - Baltimore Magazine

"As a single mother of two young girls, native of Baltimore and veteran White House correspondent, April Ryan (The Presidency in Black and White) has spent much of her adulthood juggling the complex issues of race and race relations in both her personal and professional lives. In her second book, At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White, she draws on that experience. . . to present a new and multifaceted interpretation of the important role that mothers play in both understanding and defining race relations in the United States today. Ryan uses her journalistic background to great effect in At Mama's Knee, most notably through extensive conversations with others. Interviews with prominent politicians, such as Hillary Clinton and Valerie Jarrett, combine with the stories of mothers who have been thrust into the news cycle, such as Gwen Carr (mother of Eric Garner) and Sybrina Fulton (mother of Trayvon Martin), to fully flesh out Ryan's ideas of race and motherhood. . . At its heart, Ryan's work is an important reminder of the place of mothers in the ongoing conversation about race and racial tensions in U.S. "We must teach our children," she urges, "whether with words or actions, about race in America." The words in At Mama's Knee are an important part of that teaching." - Shelf Awareness