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THURSDAY
Although the sista-girls on the cover of LaVerne McCain Gill’s new book look like my mom and my aunts (you knowthe kind who’d fry up a batch of chicken if you came in the house starving but would just as easily whip your ass if you talked back), these impeccably coiffed and snazzily dressed divas are setting it straight up on Capitol Hill. African-American Women in Congress profiles 15 of the most prominent black women in politics, from Shirley Chisolm to Carol Moseley-Braun, the story of each a testament to what can be accomplished once a sister is out of the kitchen and taking care of business in the House and Senate. Gill signs and discusses her book at noon at the National Archives Theater, 7th & Pennsylvania Ave. NW. FREE. (202) 501-5000. (Deborah Rouse)