Author and historian Amy Hill Hearth shares the thoughts and experiences of Strong Medicine, an 85-year-old Lenni-Lenape matriarch, and the subject of Hearth’s new book “Strong Medicine Speaks: A Native American Elder Has Her Say,” Tuesday, April 8, 7 p.m., RWJ Hamilton Center for Health & Wellness, 3100 Quakerbridge Rd., Hamilton.
Strong Medicine is a 13th generation Native American whose ancestry is traced back to the first Native people to encounter Europeans in 1524. Hearth shares her views on modern life, medicine, global warming and motherhood, collected in her oral history. She met Strong Medicine at a spiritual gathering of the Lenni-Lenape tribe while researching her own family history. “I knew immediately that she would be a terrific subject for an oral history,” Hearth says. “Her name pretty much says it all. She is outspoken and forthright, generous in spirit with a fabulous sense of humor.”
Hearth became known internationally as the author of “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years,” a New York Times bestseller for 105 weeks, which captured the voices, personalities, and unvarnished opinions of a reclusive pair of centenarian sisters who were the daughters of a man born into slavery.
“Having Our Say” was adapted for the stage by Emily Mann and premiered at McCarter Theater in 1995 and then ran for eight months on Broadway at the Booth Theater.
“Strong Medicine,” Tuesday, April 8, 7 p.m., RWJ Hamilton Fitness and Wellness Center, 1300 Quakerbridge Road, Hamilton. Amy Hearth Hill, author of “Having Our Say,” speaks about her new book about a Native American medicine woman. $15 ($23 with book purchase). Register at friendshealthconnection.org or 800-483-7436.
