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BlackWorld
"Berry traveled to the future, to tell us our past."
The story of BlackWorld is a tale like no other. BlackWorld is real and exists in the corner of heaven, but unlike other heavenly realms, BlackWorld was created by the ancestors: those who'd been stolen from Africa and brought to the Americas. Those enslaved Africans were shackled, tortured, and maimed.
Many began to lose their humanity.
One among them implored God to provide a place where the enslaved could rest their spirits long enough to endure the suffering and make way for the future. God relented and gave them the realm that is still known as BlackWorld. Now, it is visited and inhabited by any who seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. It is for those who cry out and for those who are called. You don't have to be Black to go to BlackWorld, but as Brother Malcolm once said, "It do help."
Rose Freeman has been called to BlackWorld. When her doctoral studies are interrupted by requests of the Last Will and Testament of her Aunt Bertha, Rose learns that she must distribute the millions left by a person she'd known as a "woman of modest means."
"You'll know what to do," her aunt's will instructs, but like so many other lost Black folks, Rose is trying to get by, by fitting in. She has no idea that her blackness and the experience thereof is the world's saving grace.
With the assistance and guidance of Aziz, the attendant on Rose's private jet, Rose will discover BlackWorld, and unlock the secrets of our past, present, and future.
The story of BlackWorld is a tale like no other. BlackWorld is real and exists in the corner of heaven, but unlike other heavenly realms, BlackWorld was created by the ancestors: those who'd been stolen from Africa and brought to the Americas. Those enslaved Africans were shackled, tortured, and maimed.
Many began to lose their humanity.
One among them implored God to provide a place where the enslaved could rest their spirits long enough to endure the suffering and make way for the future. God relented and gave them the realm that is still known as BlackWorld. Now, it is visited and inhabited by any who seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. It is for those who cry out and for those who are called. You don't have to be Black to go to BlackWorld, but as Brother Malcolm once said, "It do help."
Rose Freeman has been called to BlackWorld. When her doctoral studies are interrupted by requests of the Last Will and Testament of her Aunt Bertha, Rose learns that she must distribute the millions left by a person she'd known as a "woman of modest means."
"You'll know what to do," her aunt's will instructs, but like so many other lost Black folks, Rose is trying to get by, by fitting in. She has no idea that her blackness and the experience thereof is the world's saving grace.
With the assistance and guidance of Aziz, the attendant on Rose's private jet, Rose will discover BlackWorld, and unlock the secrets of our past, present, and future.
249 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2023
4 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 24, 2023
3/24/23 Update: Audiobook available. Perfection: Bertice Berry's voice reading this material. It doesn't get any better than this.
Where to begin with this astonishing project—because it is way more than this hardback with a velvety cover of Charly Palmer’s painting of author Bertice Berry, Ph.D.’s direct route to BlackWorld. It’s more than a project. Perhaps a better word would be “movement.”
Do you want to know the movement of history? Do you want to really understand where we are now as a nation and a world with a legacy of slavery and genocide? Do you long to know how we can heal and move through and on from this mess? Do you ever feel as though your dreams are school—that you’re with a bunch of people, being instructed by elders, or that sometimes you are even one of the instructors or helpers, visiting people and places that have nothing to do with your everyday life, so why on earth are you dreaming this stuff, and why do you wake exhausted as if you’ve been traveling to other worlds? What if this dream schooling is an alternate realty? Do you want to learn about all these questions and their answers in a way that is fun? I know that sounds ridiculous, but that’s what this movement called BlackWorld offers.
BlackWorld is a whole not-so-underground railroad. It is both an entertaining novel about a young doctoral student named Rose who inherits a bundle of money and goes on a quest into alternate reality prescribed by her dead Aunt Bertha, even though it requires she abort her sociology studies at a pivotal time and fly away to parts unknown and, for readers, voila: it is the route to move into healing.
In BlackWorld, author Bertice Berry, a sociologist, has liberally lifted from her own remarkable story from hard beginnings to become a best-selling writer, television host, and sought-after diversity trainer/inspiring speaker for huge corporations. And this book is one part of a much bigger movement: to start a publishing company, Freeman House Publishing, dedicated to publishing stories “that need to be told, stories that uplift, inform, inspire, and give hope.” Through this company, Berry and her partners are attempting to do the impossible: own their own work. Own their own story of Black people. Control how it enters the world. Hence, you will not find this book on Amazon and there will be no middle men taking out chunks of the profits. This is a book that will go out into the world the same way protagonist Rose does—from a place called “Freeman,” paid for by her dead aunt’s sweat and tears—and embodying the very story Berry is telling.
The hardcover is pricy and probably a collector’s item. I’m glad to own it (I bought it), but I will uncharacteristically encourage serious readers (and particularly students) to wait for the ebook or the audio. The ebook is going to be filled with hyperlinks to find out more about the historical figures who are dropped in by the barrel-load, like rare gems in this treasure-land called BlackWorld. Rather than lurch up and down from a book to your computer, you’ll be able to click a link in the ebook to find out more about each of them. And Bertice Berry is reading BlackWorld on the audiobook (which I haven’t heard, but I’ve listened to her daily video stories long enough to know that her voice can heal). As I write this, neither the ebook nor the audio are for sale, so you have plenty of time to decide how you prefer to take this in. An official pub date is still up in the air.
Just know that however you take this story in, you will be nourished with the option/responsibility to become a moving participant in BlackWorld:
* * *
I’ve noticed that book theme clusters seem to haphazardly come to me—a bunch of books with commonalities that scream for me to notice.
BlackWorld is the third book I’ve read in a fairly dense cluster of Black people’s road-trips. Each book has idiosyncratic characters and plot; each has a unique way of dealing with truths that need to be completely revealed and accepted by all people; and each has, in publishing parlance, an element of “magical realism”—although from my point of view, I would characterize it as hyper-real.
BlackWorld, in this trio, was preceded by Percival Everett’s Dr. No , and Ladee Hubbard’s The Talented Ribkins .
I did not plan this reading sequence, and for that reason, I feel as if its appearance comes from a higher order of plot and message than I could consciously construct.
Where to begin with this astonishing project—because it is way more than this hardback with a velvety cover of Charly Palmer’s painting of author Bertice Berry, Ph.D.’s direct route to BlackWorld. It’s more than a project. Perhaps a better word would be “movement.”
Do you want to know the movement of history? Do you want to really understand where we are now as a nation and a world with a legacy of slavery and genocide? Do you long to know how we can heal and move through and on from this mess? Do you ever feel as though your dreams are school—that you’re with a bunch of people, being instructed by elders, or that sometimes you are even one of the instructors or helpers, visiting people and places that have nothing to do with your everyday life, so why on earth are you dreaming this stuff, and why do you wake exhausted as if you’ve been traveling to other worlds? What if this dream schooling is an alternate realty? Do you want to learn about all these questions and their answers in a way that is fun? I know that sounds ridiculous, but that’s what this movement called BlackWorld offers.
BlackWorld is a whole not-so-underground railroad. It is both an entertaining novel about a young doctoral student named Rose who inherits a bundle of money and goes on a quest into alternate reality prescribed by her dead Aunt Bertha, even though it requires she abort her sociology studies at a pivotal time and fly away to parts unknown and, for readers, voila: it is the route to move into healing.
In BlackWorld, author Bertice Berry, a sociologist, has liberally lifted from her own remarkable story from hard beginnings to become a best-selling writer, television host, and sought-after diversity trainer/inspiring speaker for huge corporations. And this book is one part of a much bigger movement: to start a publishing company, Freeman House Publishing, dedicated to publishing stories “that need to be told, stories that uplift, inform, inspire, and give hope.” Through this company, Berry and her partners are attempting to do the impossible: own their own work. Own their own story of Black people. Control how it enters the world. Hence, you will not find this book on Amazon and there will be no middle men taking out chunks of the profits. This is a book that will go out into the world the same way protagonist Rose does—from a place called “Freeman,” paid for by her dead aunt’s sweat and tears—and embodying the very story Berry is telling.
The hardcover is pricy and probably a collector’s item. I’m glad to own it (I bought it), but I will uncharacteristically encourage serious readers (and particularly students) to wait for the ebook or the audio. The ebook is going to be filled with hyperlinks to find out more about the historical figures who are dropped in by the barrel-load, like rare gems in this treasure-land called BlackWorld. Rather than lurch up and down from a book to your computer, you’ll be able to click a link in the ebook to find out more about each of them. And Bertice Berry is reading BlackWorld on the audiobook (which I haven’t heard, but I’ve listened to her daily video stories long enough to know that her voice can heal). As I write this, neither the ebook nor the audio are for sale, so you have plenty of time to decide how you prefer to take this in. An official pub date is still up in the air.
Just know that however you take this story in, you will be nourished with the option/responsibility to become a moving participant in BlackWorld:
When President Obama came in, people sat down like he was going to fix everything all by himself. Worse still were the folks who complained how he wasn’t doing enough. There ain’t a man born who can fix everything all by himself. Even Jesus had disciples.
Anyway, as I was saying, people sat down and waited to be handed a change. It came, but not the way folks were thinking. Obama’s presidency brought forth the very element that had been clogging the drain all along. (175)
. . .
Having a Black president didn’t fix America, but it set her on a path to finally get right. Just like we implored the heavens to create BlackWorld, we have implored the Creator to allow us to reveal the power of BlackWorld to all the world. Because God knows, we need it; we all, every single one of us. (178)
* * *
I’ve noticed that book theme clusters seem to haphazardly come to me—a bunch of books with commonalities that scream for me to notice.
BlackWorld is the third book I’ve read in a fairly dense cluster of Black people’s road-trips. Each book has idiosyncratic characters and plot; each has a unique way of dealing with truths that need to be completely revealed and accepted by all people; and each has, in publishing parlance, an element of “magical realism”—although from my point of view, I would characterize it as hyper-real.
BlackWorld, in this trio, was preceded by Percival Everett’s Dr. No , and Ladee Hubbard’s The Talented Ribkins .
I did not plan this reading sequence, and for that reason, I feel as if its appearance comes from a higher order of plot and message than I could consciously construct.
May 28, 2023
I have been listening to Dr. Berry ever since she started her stories on IG during the pandemic. For me, the short accounts and lessons have been like going to church. They have helped me remove blinders and become more aware of my own condition.
I learned so much rich Black history from her book. Some was hard but necessary to read. Ghost men - “we believed that these men were without souls, for how else would they be able to do what they did to us.” Even as a child I didn’t understand how slavery could exist. I would watch Roots (my parents made me) - and I was appalled and could hardly stomach it. Ripping children away from parents, unimaginable beatings and living conditions. I used to secretly hope it was over dramatized (I now know it wasn’t). Black people STILL deserve so much more from us.
Conceptually such a beautiful book to consider that there might be a special place in heaven where black souls can be united and heal together. And maybe there is - and I would be honored to visit - but wouldn’t feel worthy to stay.
“You do not have to be Black to enter Black World, but as Brother Malcom once said, ‘It do help.’”
“A society grows great when old folks plant trees in whose shade they will never sit.”
“BlackWorld was one of many places in the heavenly realm, but it was also a stop on everyone’s way to enlightenment.”
“Listen to me good, you are also connected to the place where you were born, and you are being drawn to the place where you will die. That should not limit you, nor should it being you fear, because everybody is going to die. The real question is whether you are going to live.”
“When a person seeks their purpose, the Universe conspires to answer.”
“And so it was the mothers who held the reins of power.”
“ … am unborn spirit is always reborn.”
“When someone who has nothing gives you they’re all, you say thank you.”
“But not getting what you think you deserve is never a cause to make somebody else miserable.”
“There ain’t a man born, who can fix everything all by himself. Even Jesus had disciples.”
“His presence brought up the stench that has been the funk clinging to the beauty of America. …Barack’s presence has made it possible for all the world to see.”
“Discomfort is always a necessary part of enlightenment.”
“… in love and life, women have an upper hand.”
“This nation was built with free labor on stolen land.”
Also DuBois’ Double Consciousness concept is heart breaking - and helped me understand how Black people must live in two realties.
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
I learned so much rich Black history from her book. Some was hard but necessary to read. Ghost men - “we believed that these men were without souls, for how else would they be able to do what they did to us.” Even as a child I didn’t understand how slavery could exist. I would watch Roots (my parents made me) - and I was appalled and could hardly stomach it. Ripping children away from parents, unimaginable beatings and living conditions. I used to secretly hope it was over dramatized (I now know it wasn’t). Black people STILL deserve so much more from us.
Conceptually such a beautiful book to consider that there might be a special place in heaven where black souls can be united and heal together. And maybe there is - and I would be honored to visit - but wouldn’t feel worthy to stay.
“You do not have to be Black to enter Black World, but as Brother Malcom once said, ‘It do help.’”
“A society grows great when old folks plant trees in whose shade they will never sit.”
“BlackWorld was one of many places in the heavenly realm, but it was also a stop on everyone’s way to enlightenment.”
“Listen to me good, you are also connected to the place where you were born, and you are being drawn to the place where you will die. That should not limit you, nor should it being you fear, because everybody is going to die. The real question is whether you are going to live.”
“When a person seeks their purpose, the Universe conspires to answer.”
“And so it was the mothers who held the reins of power.”
“ … am unborn spirit is always reborn.”
“When someone who has nothing gives you they’re all, you say thank you.”
“But not getting what you think you deserve is never a cause to make somebody else miserable.”
“There ain’t a man born, who can fix everything all by himself. Even Jesus had disciples.”
“His presence brought up the stench that has been the funk clinging to the beauty of America. …Barack’s presence has made it possible for all the world to see.”
“Discomfort is always a necessary part of enlightenment.”
“… in love and life, women have an upper hand.”
“This nation was built with free labor on stolen land.”
Also DuBois’ Double Consciousness concept is heart breaking - and helped me understand how Black people must live in two realties.
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
April 3, 2023
“So, hear me and hear me good; when the ancestors come calling on you, don't run. Don't stand around in disbelief and for life's sake, don't ignore us. Because the call is never ever about you, it is about the work that is set before you.”
In BlackWorld, sociologist and storyteller Dr. Bertice Berry offers a slice of heaven created by God at the first request of the Ancestors of enslaved Africans. The realm is not limited to those who were enslaved and their descendants. This place of healing and empowerment is for those who seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
The fictional Rose Freeman, is given a break from her studies in pursuit of a PhD in Sociology thanks to the recently deceased Aunt who raised her. While she travels with the enigmatic Aziz to see more of the world, we get a master class in the people who have worked for liberation through the centuries. Dr. Berry then brings Rose to a revelation of how we must move beyond individualism and group think to reach an enlightended view of ourselves and how we live our lives. BlackWorld uses magical realism to offer a unique lens on history with hope for the future.
In BlackWorld, sociologist and storyteller Dr. Bertice Berry offers a slice of heaven created by God at the first request of the Ancestors of enslaved Africans. The realm is not limited to those who were enslaved and their descendants. This place of healing and empowerment is for those who seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
The fictional Rose Freeman, is given a break from her studies in pursuit of a PhD in Sociology thanks to the recently deceased Aunt who raised her. While she travels with the enigmatic Aziz to see more of the world, we get a master class in the people who have worked for liberation through the centuries. Dr. Berry then brings Rose to a revelation of how we must move beyond individualism and group think to reach an enlightended view of ourselves and how we live our lives. BlackWorld uses magical realism to offer a unique lens on history with hope for the future.
March 27, 2023
I preordered the book, and downloaded the audiobook as soon as I learned that it was available. I listened riveted to the audiobook version in two sittings. Hearing it spoken by the author was very powerful, moving and inspiring. It is a work meant for this time when hope and encouragement is so needed.
December 14, 2023
Love this so much!!! It’s full of excitement as a bit of fantasy is mixed in with history and mostly LOVE!!!
I can’t wait to read the next book! Thank you Dr. Berry for this work of history and art.
I can’t wait to read the next book! Thank you Dr. Berry for this work of history and art.
May 7, 2023
This is the book you don't know you need until you're in the middle of it
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews