Cultural Writing. Biography. African American Studies. SPEAK TO THE MOUNTAIN: THE TOMMIE WAITES STORY is a special book about a unique woman, Tommie Waites, who started from direst poverty in the Ar-La-Tex region of the country and overcame one powerful force after another until she emerged as one of America's leading Christian evangelists. The book, written by Tommie's daughter Bessie, clearly documents in words and photos just what kind of life a poor black family could expect in the Deep South before, during, and after the Depression. Dr. Blake chronicles her mother's determination to overcome mountains of poverty, illness, spousal abuse, racism, and gender bias in the country as a whole and in the ministry. Reading about the struggles of Tommie Waites, one can't help but recognize that the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow has been horror and deprivation but that it has also been a strengthening of spirit and determination for those who fought and survived. Tommie Waites didn't just survive,