"I Am Because We Are: African Wisdom in Image and Proverb is a stunning collection of photographs taken by Betty Press while she lived and traveled in Africa. One hundred and twenty-five photographs have been paired with African proverbs compiled by Annetta Miller, an American born in Tanzania and living in East Africa most of her life. In proverbs, philosophy and poetry have a fine marriage. Such is the relationship between Press’ black and white photographs and the proverbs that root these images in our collective mind and spirit…

I was immediately drawn to this book because of these striking photographs and the poetry that I found in abundance on these pages. A wise one said Proverbs are the palm wine with which words are eaten. Proverbs, like poems, are concise, loaded with metaphors, wisdom, nuance, and the rhythms of life…

In this collection, the message is significant and life-affirming: I am because we are; we are because I am. We exist in community with a multiplicity of voices, and we thrive because we share the responsibility for that community with others…In it is the wisdom of griots who have traced the lineage of their people, told the stories of their ancestors, and passed them on to their children. The power of this collection is that we are able to see the engaging images of the heirs of this wisdom and hear the voices of continuity, identity, and legacy that affirm their communal spirit.”

by Joanne Veal Gabbin, Executive Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center
and Professor of English at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia