THE VISIONARIES

Linda Kenney Miller

"The Torch Bearer"

www.lindakenneymiller.com

Linda Kenney Miller's first book has just won the USA Book News Best Book Award for historical fiction!

Growing up in Tuskegee, Alabama, in the 1950s, Linda Kenney was only vaguely aware of some of her family's history and did not yet realize that this rural "'bama" town had been a seedbed for some of the greatest African American leaders in the USA. In the year 2000 in Georgia, the remarried Mrs. Miller was on a spiritual quest to discover her purpose in life and was drawn to the old boxes of memoirs and journals of her dear grandfather, John A. Kenney, M.D. She discovered this son of former slaves had raised himself up to become personal physician to Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute and had helped found the first full-service hospital for African Americans. He was an unsung hero and himself one of these great leaders. Something deep stirred within her when she read his words, "It is not he who lives the longest, but he who loves the most and serves the best that impresses himself upon his day and generation." As she read more and more, she was at once exhilarated and fearful--exhilarated because she was feeling her life purpose would revolve around the telling of his story, because she clearly saw that his vision was also so relevant for us in these times; fearful, because she was also realizing just how important this piece of black history was turning out to be and it was her vision that she had to be the one to tell it. Why, she wondered? Why had she always felt so close to him, although she hadn't known him well, since he had died in 1950. Maybe it was because people in Tuskegee always told her she looked like him with her reddish hair, light eyes and freckles, and also had a stubborn streak and also enjoyed having the last word.

I met the beautiful vivacious woman with the luminous eyes full of soul at one of Dr. Jill's uplifting gatherings (see Jill Kahn's page on this site). Jill introduced me as the woman who was helping her write her book and exclaimed to me about the book Linda was writing. Linda lit up and said that she was heavily into the research about her dead grandfather, who seemed to be by her side, encouraging her. It was almost as if he were speaking to her. Now that was intriguing and caught my interest. Many people tell me they have a great idea for a book; but she exuded such passion, such a sense of mission that was so compelling, I invited her to get in touch with me when she got more of the writing done, which she did.

She was a natural writer with a sense of story and good ear for dialog, a very willing student with a driving motivation to learn and hone her craft of writing. We always looked forward to our pleasurable Sunday morning meetings. The serene, gracious woman always had her "homework" chapters done and, in addition to which, served us delectable repasts of bagels and salmon and fresh fruit for lunch. She was fueled by a sense of urgency that her book needed to be out right away, but went about making that happen in a very efficient, peaceful way. No sturm and drang for this redhead! At least not with me. Delightful. But there was no denying the passion.

Without perhaps at first knowing it, but realizing it now in her process, she had always been on her path of pursuing excellence in medicine, as had the men in her family before her -- her grandfather and father as medical directors of the John A. Andrew Hospital at Tuskegee Institute. The former English teacher became a medical administrator for her father, Howard W. Kenney, M.D. and for other prominent physicians. She carried the torch by starting up her own medical management consulting business, determined to continue the legacy of excellence and service in a field that seemed to be becoming more and more consumed by the demands from the business side. As the writing of the book took over, in a leap of faith and commitment, she put her Washington, D.C. home up for sale in order to write full-time, running with the torch in another direction. I never saw her waver in her purpose of executing her vision.

She came to believe she was being guided on a spiritual level. As she says in her Author's Note in her book, "When I was looking for an idea to express a certain sentiment, I would pick up a random file and the answer would be right there on the first page. Oftentimes I would go to bed late at night after not being able to put my hands on something I was looking for. In the morning, the elusive article would be right on top of my work. During my conferences with my literary developer, Mardeene Mitchell, she would often ask me, 'Are those your thoughts or his?' When I read the passage, I couldn't always tell. It seemed as if our words and thoughts were one voice. I felt as if, at times, my grandfather was speaking through me."

I have no doubt of that and of his inspiring and helping his granddaughter. What a man! And what a story! Her book, Beacon on the Hill, has just come out (June 2008). Be sure to look at the beautiful historical photos of her grandfather and his illustrious contemporaries and the hospital scenes of the day on her website, lindakenneymiller.com! She chose to self-publish it through Harper House Publishers so that the book would be available in time for the 100th Centennial celebration July 2009 of the publishing of the "Journal of the National Medical Association" (NMA), of which her grandfather was the founding editor. Kenney stood up to the Klu Klux Klan, to some resistance from his own race and to opposition from whites to fight for an all black staff at the largest institution ever manned by all Negroes in the U.S.—the new first government hospital for colored Veterans of WWI under President Harding. No interracial issue so rocked the South since Booker T. Washington dined with President Roosevelt! It was also the event that precipitated the official organization of the KKK. And what a love story between two black pioneers: the medical man, Dr. Kenney, and his forward-thinking wife, Freida Armstrong Kenney, who almost lost her life to T.B. and became a Christian Scientist, the antithesis to her husband's scientific beliefs. And yet, they continued to love and respect each other.

John and Freida Kenney together in love and service and back-to-basics, found solutions to the very problems that challenge us today: disenfranchised? (ex-slave parents); homeless from disasters? (starting from nothing); afraid of terrorists? (KKK burning down their house); death rates rising from disease? (Frieda lost both breasts to the "cancer" of the day---Tuberculosis); fear of plagues? (typhoid and cholera in their day); battle between the sexes? (successfully supported and loved each other at work and at home before they had even heard about "integrating our masculine and feminine selves."); ego-driven crazy for fame? (JAK kept his nose to the grindstone day after day, always with the attitude of serving mankind, a 21st Century vision of service). Linda has woven the factual data including conversations and information hitherto unknown about Booker T. Washington and the men of the times--into a moving fictional drama of love, courage, sacrifice, determination and duty to race and country.

I have no doubt that, just as her grandfather is helping her, so will Linda's awesome network of powerful people in the African American community support this message. As Linda herself says, "Not only the black race, but all Americans, all peoples, need role models for integrity, people who stand for unity against the forces that would divide and conquer." Linda herself is one of those visionary role models of courage who stands for unity. She carries the torch well.