My Mama's Dead Squirrel: Lesbian Essays on Southern Culture

by Mab Segrest

Book by Segrest, Mab

Genres: Queer, Nonfiction, LGBT, Essays, Memoir, Lesbian, Southern

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1985

About the author

Mabelle ("Mab) Massey Segrest is an American feminist, lesbian, writer, and activist.

Born in Alabama, Segrest received her Ph.D. in Modern British Literature from Duke University in 1979 and was appointed the Fuller-Matthai Professor of Gender & Women's Studies at Connecticut College in 2004.

Segrest is often recognized for her efforts combatting sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of oppression. She is credited by some as being one of the main forces that drove the Ku Klux Klan from North Carolina in the late 1980s.

Reviews

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

the more things change the more they remain the same 💕 no really though, this was so steadying. it’s so tempting to give into despair because we are STILL struggling with so much of what mab was writing about in the early 80s, and yet—it helps to know that these are not new problems. we have survived them once and we will survive them again.

there is so much tenderness and thoughtfulness and conviction and hope threaded through these essays. i am so thankful i found my way to them when i did

[Zillah Gashleycrumb]

I learned that poor reviews of this book prompted Dorothy Allison to write "Trash", a collection of short stories that I love. I feel obliged to read this, too.

[Brooke Eubanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these essays could have been written yesterday.

Quotes:

From Zora Neale Hurston: "But I did not give up on the idea of my journey. I was merely lonesome for someone brave enough to undertake it with me."

"Laughter is revolution. Our job is to use love, anger, and imagination to show us where to go, and laughter to keep us alive while we get there. And we must not use laughter to make us endure what courage can change."

"Southerners have a high tolerance of and appreciation for eccentricity, a knowledge in our heart of hearts that everyone is a little strange."

"And all of them, the hers-in-me, tell me: the future is nothing if not what we love in the past, set free."

From Barbara Deming: "I lie at the bottom of my spirit's well."

[Rita]

Dorothy Allison: "a book I loved -- a witty, revealing collection about humor -- full of stories about her family.

[presumably Segrest had a childhood somewhat comparable to Allison's - South, poverty, violence, treated like dirt.

[Shannon Yarbrough · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gift to humanity, and the essays are heartbreakingly relevant to today.

[Qilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mab Segrest is one of my heros! esp with a title like this one. She tracks her development of analysis from '77 to '85 though this series of essays. I respect her for including perspectives that she moved on from later, esp around her broadening feminism. It's amazing to read feminist lesbian anti-racist southern white work from that era. I keep learning more about the rise of gay bashing and KKK influence in central North Carolina as I was running around pre-school playgrounds nearby.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I remember correctly, I picked up a copy of this book at a used bookstore in Providence, Rhode Island.

I think this book is a good companion read with the essays of Minnie Bruce Pratt, another white Southern who is also a lesbian and an anti-racist.

I remember these essays were both funny and thought provoking.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 2nd book I've read by Ms. Segrest and I found this one a bit easier to get through and also it held my attention longer. Short essays, written by Mab about being a lesbian in the South. While it was published in 1985, much of what she writes about it still relevant today.