When Your Hand is in the Lion’s Mouth

When Your Hand is in the Lion’s Mouth (Father’s Day/ Juneteenth 2022), is a narrative non-fiction story and a father-daughter memoir. Revealing the foundation of paternal love, wisdom and life lessons, at 96 years young, Whitaker’s father keeps inspiring and teaching with his foundational practical wisdom. 

Not often enough do we hear of great black fathers in our stories or media, one that goes beyond stereotype, shining a light on a devoted man who lifts and enlightens. The simplicity and complexity of the life into which he was born informed the wisdom and worldliness he would gain. Born as the second youngest of nineteen children in a rural northwest Louisiana farming community, the lion of the Jim Crow South loomed large and oppressively in the 1920s. But, Green Whitaker had the beautiful gift of a family devoted to each other to guide him through.

That familial devotion and grounding grew him into a man of great integrity and grit whose love melded with the faith seeds planted in his quest for a piece of the American dream. He continues to be a beloved father, uncle and friend, as well as a father figure to more than his own children, serving as a mentor and willing role model for his entire community and more. His love and nurturing gave his family confidence to pursue a career in entertainment. His example is the salve souls need; a re-parenting from a father figure whose voice and simple wisdom can nourish and support the child within each of us. 

Green is the last surviving of his large family and is the portal to his family's history and legacy. It is not an academic book on parenting, but a sharing, a recollection of unpolished gems of wisdom about how to have better values, sharing ways to be more kind, loving and honest to foster a life of riches not measured in dollars but in sense and in peace. 

Nita Whitaker is a former ICU registered nurse-turned Miss Louisiana, an accomplished singer, and award-winning actress and author. 

A favorite singer of legendary producer David Foster, Whitaker has sung with some of the most famous voices of our time. She sang the original demos for Whitney Houston’s standards, “I Will Always Love You,” “I Have Nothing,” and “I Look to You” working with producers David Foster and Walter Nelson Jr. Having toured with Andrea’ Bocelli as a guest duet artist, as well a featured vocalist on tour with jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, Whitaker has performed with some of the great singers of our time including Michael Bolton, Lionel Ritchie, Yolanda Adams, Patti LaBelle, Barbra Streisand, Patti Austin, Josh Groban, and Michael Bublé. She has entertained thousands as well hundreds in her own intimate one woman shows, charity galas and corporate events; her expansive talent and humor continues to find new avenues to be expressed.

A Grand Champion Hall of Fame Star Search Winner, Whitaker’s stellar vocals blend, jazz, pop, and classical into her own unique sound. She has performed on stage including four world premiere’s musicals: “Ragtime,” “Ten Commandments the Musical,” “Breaking Through” at Pasadena Playhouse, and most recently named the 2019 NAACP Best supporting actress award winner for her role of Mom Winans in the Broadway bound musical “Born For This” at the Majestic Theater in Boston, The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA, Alliance Theater and the Arena Stage in Washington D.C. 

Whitaker’s first independently published memoir, Finding My Voice: My Journey through Grief to Grace, won the Indie Discovery Book Award (Aging/Death and Dying) and two National Indie Excellence Book Awards in the Grief and Memoir Categories. 

Born in Shreveport, LA, she champions literacy through her 501c3 non-profit In A World With Books (www.inaworldwithbooks.org) which has put 18,500 new books in the hands of underserved children and counting.

Whitaker has contributed articles for Inspired Women online magazine, was recently featured in Voyager LA magazine, and has also recorded and co-produced four independent records.