Our Poetry Our Lives. Through the lives, history, and poetry of two extraordinary women, Mamma and Me Our Poetry, Our Lives reveals African-American thought, culture, and progress from the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 to the 21st century.Vesta Coleman was a teacher and a chaplain, poet laureate of Anniston, Alabama Sunday School teacher and pianist celebrated orator oratorical contest trainer mentor and respected community leader.Elizabeth Emily Coleman, her daughter, is an ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church, USA, has earned Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees from Princeton