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WILLIAM MORROW
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
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Sharyn Rosenblum
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She came into the world as a Ward of the State. Today, she is an accomplished star of film and television. Now, she delivers a touching tribute to the amazing women who raised her, and to the foster care system that made it possible.
“I was never meant to be raised by
one mother, but by many.”
– Victoria Rowell
Victoria Rowell has played a multitude of roles in her career as a ballet dancer and actress, from her recently co-starring role opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Home of the Brave to roles on Diagnosis: Murder and The Young & the Restless. But as many women as she’s played in her professional life, even more have played starring roles in her personal life―as foster mothers, caretakers, social service workers, neighbors, friends, teachers, grand dames, and mentors―all of whom Rowell honors in her touching memoir, THE WOMEN WHO RAISED ME (William Morrow/An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; on sale April 10, 2007; ISBN 0-06-124659-X; $25.95 US/$29.95 Canada), a tribute not only to the amazing women who cared for her when her birth mother could not, but to the foster system that brought them into her life.
On May 10, 1959, in the small town of Bath, Maine, a 36 year-old single mother by the name of Dorothy Collins Rowell used a payphone at a local bar to call a taxi to take her to the hospital. Nine months pregnant, dirty and disheveled, she wobbled on high heels to the curb, leaving three small children behind in her upstairs apartment. Hours later, as Child Welfare was on the way to rescue them based on tips from neighbors, she gave birth to a baby girl – who was instantly made a Ward of the State. Baby Girl Rowell, whose mother was white and whose unknown father was black, became case number 19267-C, State of Maine Department of Human Services, Bureau of Social Welfare for the next 18 years.
During those years, even as Dorothy went in and out of mental hospitals for her schizophrenia, she struggled behind the scenes to make sure her baby – and all her children – were placed in loving homes. Baby Girl Rowell, who would be named Vicki, would not lay eyes on her until she was 7 years old. For Vicki, “mother” would be not just one, but many women. So many, in fact, that as she said her girlhood prayers at night, the list of women she wished blessings upon was so long, she alphabetized it. The key women in Vicki’s life:
Bertha C. Taylor―Vicki’s first childhood memory is of being held to Bertha’s breast as Bertha sings to her, waltzing. A hardy, loving 54 year-old matron of Maine, Bertha becomes Vicki’s first “mother” when she appears at the Holy Innocents Orphanage and takes Vicki under her wing, despite protests by social workers and the gossip of neighbors. (A black child in a white home!) When a suitable black family is finally located in this predominantly white community, Bertha fights to keep her but cannot overcome the antiquated law, and two year-old Vicki is taken to her next foster home.
Agatha Wooten Armstead―Spotted by hospital workers as they walked the halls of Mercy Hospital on the way to a job interview, 56-year-old Agatha and her husband are identified as potential foster parents for Vicki – their skin color an important prequalification. Agatha defies convention and becomes a foster mother at a senior age. A consummate gardener, entrepreneur, pianist, painter, photographer, writer, and teacher, she nurtures Vicki’s dream to become a ballet dancer, helping her win a Ford Foundation/NEA scholarship to the Cambridge School of Ballet in Massachusetts at the age of 8. Vicki keeps the door knob she used as a ballet bar when Agatha, self-taught, gave her home lessons. Agatha would always be Vicki’s true north; her sixty acre farm, Forest Edge, her true home.
Esther Brooks―While training at the Cambridge School of Ballet, Vicki had the good fortune of coming under the tutelage of this former prima ballerina, raised in aristocratic circles and revered by the likes of Balanchine. Esther introduced her students not only to ballet, but to French, history, opera, painting, and sculpting. She took a special interest in Vicki, selecting her to appear with her on TV to demonstrate ballet fundamentals (on the CBS Newcomers Show with Dave Garroway).
Linda Webb―The social worker assigned to Vicki’s case tirelessly battled the system year after year to push through purchase orders for ballet slippers, tights, and leotards for Vicki, bending the rules to get her across Maine state lines to study in Massachusetts. She was on the alphabetized list at the end of Vicki’s prayers at night. She writes: “How did I pull the lucky number and have her assigned to my case?”
Rosa Turner―Between the ages of 10 and 15, Vicki benefited from the influence of several teachers, advocates, and surrogate fosterers, one of the most significant being Rosa Turner, who Vicki credits with “showing me the road into the future.” The inner city mother of one of Vicki’s ballet buddies, she agreed to care for Vicki during a summer when Agatha could not commute to Boston for lessons. Rosa, a world class beauty, a renaissance woman, and an Avon sales lady, taught Vicki everything she needed to know about “living in the ‘hood and being a lady about it.”
Sylvia Silverman―Vicki’s last foster mother before her emancipation at the age of 18, Sylvia was the upper middle class, Jewish mother of another of Vicki’s ballet buddies who welcomed Vicki into their home. Writes Vicki: “Sylvia was a composite of all the women who had raised me so far: with the grounding and stability Bertha Taylor had provided; the boundless energy to embrace life to the fullest of Agatha Armstead; the same devotion to the arts and teaching of Esther Brooks; and the spectacular beauty Rosa Turner embodied.” Sylvia had a strong hand in getting Vicki to audition, successfully, for the American Ballet Theatre School in New York City, which ultimately led to joining ABT II and a successful dance and teaching career.
And the parade of women continues, from Laura Sawyer and Retha Dunn, best friends of Bertha Taylor, who helped fight to adopt Victoria; to Carol Jordan and Valentina Pereyaslavec, the dedicated ballet teachers who took up where Esther Brooks left off; to Millie Spencer and Irene Kearney, a top flight management duo who helped Victoria as she embarked on her acting career; to Maryanne Maloney (a fundraising veteran) and Pat Gemple (a founder of Hope Worldwide) who mentored Vicki as she launched the Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan, a charitable foundation supporting foster children in the arts and higher education; to Colleen Atwood (a two-time Oscar-winning costume designer) and Susan Jaffe (fellow dancer and ABT legend), “sisters” who supported Vicki in her adult life; to Latanya Richardson Jackson, wife of Samuel, a “sister” who became a “mother” during a tough time; to the many other caring, gifted women who would love, support, and sustain Vicki on her course.
Unlike so many memoirs today that sling mud, pitch fits, and tell all, THE WOMEN WHO RAISED ME celebrates and honors the women in its author’s life with compassion and thoughtful candor. Just as Victoria did in her childhood prayers, she counts her blessings―exalting in each and every positive thing in her life, taking lessons from every hard knock. With strong, evocative writing rich in well-placed detail, this touching, wise memoir is a tribute to all the women it describes, and to the author herself.
About the Author
Victoria Rowell is a two-time Emmy Award-nominated and an eleven-time NAACP Image Award-winning actress. Her film work includes roles opposite Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber, Eddie Murphy in The Distinguished Gentleman, and Eve’s Bayou. Currently, she stars as Samuel L. Jackson’s wife in the Irwin Winkler film Home of the Brave, about a returning Iraq war veteran. Victoria is also well known for her roles as Dick Van Dyke's pathologist, Dr. Amanda Bentley, on Diagnosis: Murder and as Drucilla Barber Winters on The Young & The Restless. Born in 1959, she lived in foster care until the age of eighteen. At age nine, she won a Ford foundation and National Endowment for the Arts grant to study classical ballet and later went on to dance professionally with the American Ballet Theatre II and Juilliard School of Dance. In the mid-1980s, Victoria began modeling and worked with such legendary photographers as Patrick Demarchelier and Bruce Weber; her photographs appeared in Seventeen, Mademoiselle and other magazines. One of her early breaks as an actress was in The Cosby Show.
Rowell is the founder of the Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan, which provides scholarships in arts and education to foster and adopted youth. She also serves as national spokesperson for the Annie E. Casey Foundation/Casey Family Services. In recognition for her humanitarian work, she has received numerous awards, including the United Nations Association Award, and was selected by 193 members of congress as a congressional Angel in Adoption. Rowell is the recipient of a Whitney M. Young Award by the National Urban League, and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Southern Maine and Wheelock College of Boston
THE WOMEN WHO RAISED ME
A Memoir
By Victoria Rowell
William Morrow/An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
On sale April 10, 2007
ISBN 0-06-124659-X
$25.95 U.S. / $29.95 Canada
CONTACT:
Sharyn Rosenblum
212-207-7470 /
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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