Mitchell, Richelene (?)–1975

PERSONAL:

Born in GA; died 1975; divorced; children: seven.

WRITINGS:

Dear Self: A Year in the Life of a Welfare Mom, NID Publishers (Hayward, CA), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Richelene Mitchell was born in a small town in rural Georgia, the child of sharecroppers. While still young, she moved north, to the urban ghetto of Philadelphia, in the hope of better educational opportunities. Although she was an honor student in high school and had hopes of an academic career, she was unable to complete her education after she married. Her love of reading and natural brightness, however, enabled her to maintain her quick and intelligent mind while bearing and raising seven children.

After her marriage failed, she was left alone to bear the full responsibility of raising her children in a difficult financial situation. In 1973 she was living in a public housing project in New Britain, Connecticut, supporting her children and herself with the help of public assistance and suffering from failing health. During that year, she compiled a meditative diary in which she wrote down her thoughts, her ideas, and her observations about life and the world around her.

Mitchell died two years later in 1975, but her journal was published posthumously under the title Dear Self: A Year in the Life of a Welfare Mom. In it, she contemplates her experiences regarding poverty, racism, public policy, human nature, and her relationship to God. She explores the issues of stereotypes, expresses self-doubt, questions assumptions, and meditates on kindness, cruelty, and her own personal failings.

Mitchell's son, Imam Zaid Shakir, lightly edited the text for publication, correcting only spelling and punctuation in an effort to keep the words and feelings true to his mother's intent. In his introduction to Dear Self, Shakir wrote of Mitchell: "Our mother was no racist. However, she knew what oppression was, and she identified the source of her oppression, to a large extent, as an insidious form of racism buttressed on the reality of white supremacy. For many, her insights in this regard will prove difficult to bear. However, she is not writing in a vacuum; she is writing on the basis of her experience."

Mitchell's journal of contemplative writings was praised for exhibiting intelligence, thoughtfulness, and an analytical eye on the world around her. NID Publishers called Mitchell's book "an informed and articulate voice … [that] sheds an informing and penetrating light." Dear Self was also highly regarded for being a true and honest account of who Mitchell was. Writing in ForeWord Magazine, Todd Mercer commented, "This self-portrait rings with honesty. … Dear Self is a worthy read."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, April 1, 2007, Emily-Jane Dawson, review of Dear Self: A Year in the Life of a Welfare Mom, p. 99.

ONLINE

ForeWord Magazine,http://www.forewordmagazine.com/ (April 13, 2008), Todd Mercer, review of Dear Self.

Zaytuna.org,http://www.zaytuna.org/ (April 17, 2008), "ISNA and Onward."