Belvie Rooks
Belvie is an essayist, educator, mentor, producer, and human rights activist whose work and vision weave together the worlds of spirituality, feminism, ecology, and social justice. One of the inspirational and transformational milestones in her life was the privilege of meeting a very young Martin Luther King—who was just out of graduate school—at a weekend retreat for California high school students. This encounter was a defining moment in her process of awakening. Belvie and poet Dedan Gills (1945–2015) were married in Accra, Ghana, in 2007. Their recent book, I Give You the Springtime of my Blushing Heart: A Poetic Love Song, chronicles their love story and their journey and the life-changing impact of their pilgrimage to a West African slave dungeon. Belvie is also a contributor (along with Dedan) are two of the featured contributors in Dr. Fran Grace’s The Power of Love: A Transformed Heart Changes the World, which in 2019 won the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for “Best Inspirational Book!” As one of the nation’s leading anti-apartheid activists, organizers, and strategists, a personal highpoint for Belvie was the honor of serving as an election monitor for the South African elections that led to majority rule and having the honor of attending Nelson Mandela's inauguration as the the first democratically elected president. |