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Published Feb 2009
224 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
When novelist Bertice Berry set out to write a history of her family, she initially believed she’d uncover a story of slavery and black pain, but the deeper she dug, the more surprises she found. There was heartache, yes, but also something unexpected: hope. Peeling away the layers, Berry came to learn that the history of slavery cannot be quantified in simple, black-and-white terms of “good” and “evil” but is rather a complex tapestry of roles and relations, of choices and individual responsibility.
In this poignant, reflective memoir, Berry skillfully relays the evolution of relations between the races, from slavery to Reconstruction, from the struggles of the Civil Rights movement and the Black Power 1970s, and on to the present day. In doing so, she sheds light on a picture of the past that not only liberates but also unites and evokes the need to forgive and be forgiven.
"Berry's competently researched book, with its sprinklings of history, folklore and scripture along with a motivational thrust .... provide an accessible, readable introduction [to the history of this period]." - Publishers Weekly.
"Berry continues to demonstrate an uncanny aptitude for weaving African-American history into entertaining, empowering stories both fictional and personal." - Kirkus Reviews.
"Reminiscent of Edward Ball's Slaves in the Family. ... Historians and the general public will love this provocative story." - Library Journal
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Berry notes that this memoir is an act of contrition to the memory of a Delaware plantation owner whose name she "tried to tarnish" in her novel Redemption Song. When she named the evil slave owner, she gave him the name of the man who owned the plantation that her family had lived on, even though Berry's mother had told her that "Granddaddy said John Hunn was a good man," - a claim that Berry met with disbelief. As Berry later discovered, the historical Hunn was "a Quaker who risked life and limb in the fight for abolition" and "the southernmost conductor of the Underground Railroad."
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