In the memoir, Love, Rita, the eponymous Rita is the older sister of author, Bridgett M. Davis.
Rita was four years older than Bridgett. Family lore tells that Rita once told a very baby Bridgett, “Shut your damn mouth.” The incongruity of a four-year old saying that to an infant can be unexpected and humorous. And maybe it spoke to a tiny seed of sisterly rivalry that was planted just then. But these sisters were also very close—with a bond that was fortified by their love for their family and each other.
Rita was “vivacious.” She blazed trails as the first in the family to go to college—at the age of 16. She was a car test driver, an amateur belly dancer, an MBA, and a beloved special education teacher.
And then, Rita was diagnosed with lupus.
What is it like to be a Black woman in America—in a country where implicit bias can be part of health care, where people of color are chronically exposed to social and economic disadvantages that pointedly affect the health of Black men and women?
Love, Rita is an emotional portrait of sisterhood–with the real challenges of rivalry and growing up with big dreams in a world not created to make our lives easier in realizing them. It’s a story about the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women and men.
It’s a story of heartbreak and loss. It's a story about the joys of sisterhood, too, and the abiding love Rita and Bridgett forged for each other through it all.
Bridgett M. Davis is the author of Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy.
It’s published by Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins.
She is also the author of The World According to Fannie Davis: A Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers.
You can learn more about the author by going to her website at bridgettdavis.com
