In her memoir The Road is Good, Uzo Aduba describes her childhood experience as “Igbo-interrupted”, full of code-switching and the desire to fit in.
Growing up in a white suburban neighbourhood in Medfield, Massachusetts, in the 1980s and ‘90s, her Nigerian-American family struggles to make ends meet with five children and high expectations for academic and extracurricular success – yet Nonyem, Aduba’s mother, steers the family’s ship with great determination taking on extra jobs much to her children’s embarrassment.
The book is dedicated to Nonyem. It is about how her mother built her family and how their journey from Nigeria to Boston changed their life, creating a haven for cousins and uncles coming to the United States for scholarship opportunities. For Uzo, those opportunities came early and were nurtured heavily, including figure skating, singing and running. She excelled, gaining a track scholarship to Boston University to study music.
When viewed through the lens of the core themes of “faith, work, gratitude”, the narrative is generous; it doesn’t hold back on expressions of doubt, disappointment and despair, such as the 495 days she spent with her mother who was dying of pancreatic cancer. The story is driven by her family history of courage in the face of tragedy, having survived the Nigerian-Biafran war in the 1960s.
To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism: a one-sided critique
John Banville: ‘I expected to be dead, or at least gaga, by now’
Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: Same method, but different result
How the World Eats by Julian Baggini: The global food system ‘is broken and we need to fix it urgently’
Despite the constant rejection, she maintains her quest for a life of working in the arts, “a kind of service industry”, mirroring her mother’s motto, “I’ve never heard of nothing coming from hard work”. Her mother’s prayers – “a powerful form of care” – were a constant encouragement, especially in the New York era of trying to develop a theatre career and moving into film and television.
[ The Revenge of Rita Marsh by Nilesha Chauvet: A timely and provocative novelOpens in new window ]
Her success exploded in three big television roles, playing Crazy Eyes in the Netflix hit series Orange is the New Black, Shirley Chisholm in Mrs United States and Dr Brooke Taylor working through her grief on the series In Treatment, without which she would have been consumed by the pain of her mother’s recent death.
As the self-proclaimed “family historian”, Aduba captures the intricacies of an extraordinary life led through the practice of gratitude, prayer, and community-building, essential life lessons from an actor at the height of her “legacy building” project.
Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi is a poet, writer, editor and performer
