Adam's Belle: A Memoir of Love Without Bounds

The memoir of the late Isabel Washington Powell - Cotton Club dancer and movie star in the 1920's, political activist and "Queen of Harlem" in the 1930's and 40's, and the first wife of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. |||This book is sold in the US by Sony Electronics Inc. |||This book is sold in Canada by Sony Electronics Inc.

This week, a wonderful new autobiography on the late, inimitable,
Isabelle Washington Powell -- dancer, actor, social activist, and first
wife of the late Congressman Powell -- was released. The book is titled
Adam's Belle: A Memoir of Love Without Bounds. The volume consists of
200 pages filled with photographs never before published with the
unmistakable voice of the Belle that I knew leaping off the pages. Ms.
Burnett, the co-author, has listened closely to Belle's words and
written an exciting book which begins in the early stages of Belle's
life in Savannah, Ga.; her time as a dancer at the Cotton Club and on
Broadway during the Harlem Renaissance; and the period where she gives
up her life's ambition and first love -- the theatre and dance -- to
become the First Lady of Abyssinian Baptist Church. In Ms. Burnett's
words, "Only a drama queen like Belle could meet a real-life Prince
Charming and give up everything to marry him."
Joyce Burnett spent 10 years working with Belle Powell to complete the
book. I recall meeting Ms. Burnett on Belle's porch several years ago.
She was the perfect fit to co-author the book. It is obvious that Ms.
Burnett became fascinated with the life of Belle, who was center stage
during the 1920s, making entertainment history with the notables of the
day at a time when African Americans could not enter the Cotton Club as
patrons to enjoy her immense talents.
It was Evelyn Horad, friend of Belle Powell and former journalist and
social columnist for the Washington Afro-American Newspaper, who knew
of her interest in writing a memoir and introduced Joyce Burnett as a
potential biographer. Joyce and Belle got along famously and a
wonderful book is the result.
Joyce Burnett, an attorney, has an interesting background in her own
right. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, earned four
degrees and was a Fulbright Scholar.
It was Belle's dream that the book be completed prior to her death and
though that was not to be, it is finished...

OAK BLUFFS TOWN COLUMN (August 1, 2008)
BETTYE FOSTER BAKER 508-696-9983
(bdrbaker@comcast.net)

• Published by

  DBM Press, LC

• Publish Date

  December 31, 2007 

• Print ISBN

  0981610218

• eBook ISBN

  9780981610207

• Imprint

  DBM Press, LC

• Filesize

  1.44 MB

• Number of Print Pages*

  200

* Number of eBook pages may differ. Click here for more information.