Ultimate Trio: Homegoing x The 1619 Project x Song of Solomon + Hibiscus Berry Tea

dalesangelsinc

1 week ago

Why These Three, Why Now

There's a thread that runs through all three of these works, stitching together centuries and continents: the search for origins. The hunger to know where we came from so we might understand who we are.

Homegoing traces two half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana, one sold into slavery, one married to a British slaver, through eight generations of descendants on both sides of the Atlantic. Gyasi's novel is a family tree grown in trauma, each branch reaching toward reconciliation it may never find.

The 1619 Project recasts American history through the lens of slavery's arrival in Virginia. It's not fiction. It's correction. A reckoning with how deeply the roots of enslavement have shaped every institution, every assumption, every inch of soil we walk on.

Song of Solomon follows Milkman Dead on his journey from Michigan to the South, hunting for gold but finding instead his family's true story, a story of flight, of names stolen and reclaimed, of ancestors who could fly. Morrison gives us magical realism rooted in the most grounded truth: we cannot move forward until we know our past.

Together, these three works form a conversation across genres, across centuries. One asks: What did we lose? Another answers: Everything, and here's the proof. The third whispers: But look what we kept. Look what we became anyway.

The Gentle Way In

If you're new to any of these books, start with kindness toward yourself. These are not light reads. They will ask things of you, your attention, your empathy, your willingness to sit with discomfort.

For Homegoing: Take it one chapter at a time. Each chapter is a complete story, a new character, a new generation. You don't have to read it in one sitting. In fact, you probably shouldn't. Let each voice settle before you meet the next.

For The 1619 Project: This is journalism, history, and essay combined. Read the introductory essay first. Then choose chapters that call to you, you don't have to go in order. Some readers start with the poetry. Others with the photo essays. There's no wrong door into this house.

For Song of Solomon: Morrison's language is rich, layered, sometimes mythic. If you find yourself confused, that's okay. Milkman is confused too. Confusion is part of his (and your) journey. Trust that clarity will come, not all at once, but in waves, like memory itself.

A reading group helps. So does a journal. So does a friend who'll let you text them at midnight when you need to process what you just read.

Hibiscus Berry Tea at the End

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How to Steep (With Intention)

Brewing hibiscus berry tea is simple, but like all simple things, it rewards attention:

The Basics:

Use 1–2 teaspoons of loose leaf per 8 oz of water
Heat water to 208°F (just off boiling, give it 30 seconds after the kettle clicks)
Steep for 5–7 minutes (longer for a deeper, more tart brew)
Strain and enjoy hot, or let it cool and serve over ice

The Ritual:

While the water heats, hold your book. Feel its weight.
As you pour the water over the leaves, set an intention: I'm here to listen. I'm here to learn.
During the 5–7 minute steep, read the author bio or flip to a random page. Let anticipation build.
When you pour your first cup, take a breath. Notice the color, deep ruby, almost wine-dark.
Sip slowly. Let the tartness wake you up gently.

You can sweeten it with honey or agave if you like. Some folks add a squeeze of lime. Others drink it plain, letting the natural astringency clear the palate between chapters.

A Reading & Sipping Guide

Here's how you might move through this trio over a weekend (or a month, there's no rush):

Evening: Song of Solomon, Part I
Brew your first cup of hibiscus tea. Start with Morrison's opening: the man on the roof, the promise of flight. Let the magical realism ease you into this world. Morrison's language is music, read some passages aloud. Notice how the tea's tartness mirrors the novel's refusal to be simple or sweet.

Morning: The 1619 Project, Introduction + One Essay
Refresh your tea. Read Nikole Hannah-Jones's opening essay, "The Idea of America." Choose one more that speaks to you, maybe "Fear," maybe "Music," maybe "Traffic." These essays are dense with fact and feeling. Sip between paragraphs. Let the information settle.

Afternoon: Homegoing, Chapters 1–3
New pot of tea. Meet Effia. Meet Esi. Watch their stories split like a river forking. Notice how Gyasi's chapters are short but heavy, each one a stone you carry forward. The tea's sweetness (if you've added any) is a grace note against the weight.

Morning: Song of Solomon, Part II
Return to Morrison. Follow Milkman south. Notice how his journey parallels your own, seeking origins, seeking meaning. The tea blooms darker on the second steep, deeper. So does the story.

Afternoon: The 1619 Project, Choose Your Own Path
Pick two more essays or photo spreads. Maybe read the poetry. Let The 1619 Project be your historical anchor for the fiction you're reading, the why beneath the what.

Next session: Homegoing, Chapters 4–6
Continue Effia and Esi's descendants. Notice the patterns, prisons, mothers, water. Steep your tea longer today (8 minutes). Let it be almost too strong. Sometimes truth is.

You don't have to finish all three books in a week. This isn't a race. It's a practice.

The Conversation Between Them

What makes this pairing an "Ultimate Trio" isn't just that all three deal with Black history and diaspora. It's that they need each other.

Morrison gives us myth. Gyasi gives us lineage. The 1619 Project gives us the receipts.

Milkman's search for his family story in Song of Solomon echoes every character's search in Homegoing, except Gyasi shows us what happens when that search is blocked by slavery, by time, by the Atlantic Ocean itself. And The 1619 Project provides the historical scaffolding for both novels, the documented proof of why these stories matter, why these searches are so often doomed and yet so necessary.

Read together, they become something larger than three separate works. They become a testimony. A mapping. A way of saying: This happened. We survived it. We are still here. We are still searching. We are still flying.

Where to Find Them

Your local independent bookstore is the best place to start, call ahead and ask them to hold copies for you. Many indie bookstores will also ship if you're not local.

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One Last Thought

These books will break your heart. They're supposed to.

But they'll also remind you of something Morrison, Gyasi, and Hannah-Jones all know: We are the ones who survived. The fact that you can hold these books, read these words, steep this tea descended from African plants: that itself is a form of flight.

So steep slowly. Read gently. Let the stories settle.

And when you're ready, come tell us what you learned. We'll be here, teacups warm, ready to listen.

Shop Hibiscus Berry Tea and join the conversation at our location, or reach out if you'd like to plan a literary journey that honors these stories.

Dale's Angels Inc. : Where every cup is a conversation, every book is a bridge.