Book Description
In this riveting narrative of family, betrayal, vengeance, and murder, Lillian Baptiste is willed back to her island home of Dominica to finally settle her past. Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian left Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose life was told of in chanté mas songs sung during Carnival: Matilda Swinging and Bottle of Coke; songs about a village on a mountaintop and bones and bodies; songs about flying masquerades and a man who dropped dead. Lillian knew the songs well. And now she knows these songs -- and thus the history -- belong to her. After twenty years away, Lillian returns to face the demons of her past, and with the help of Teddy, the man she refused to love, she will find a way to heal.
Set partly in contemporary Washington, D.C., and partly in post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves together West Indian history, African culture, and American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new voice.
Customer Reviews:
Takes a while to get started.......2007-09-07
I took a little while for me to get into this book. I, quite frankly, didn't care about Lillian the main character until I was almost a third of the way through. The most dimensional and complex characters were of course Matilda and Iris. Once the novel's focus shift primarily to them, it becomes a page turner. If you feel like investing the time to get to the heart of this tale, give it a read.
Chimamanda Adichie's comments on Unburnable.......2007-07-23
Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus: A Novel) had these wonderful things to say about UNBURNABLE in the book review section of London's Guardian newspaper on Saturday June 23, 2007:
"I read Marie-Elena John's novel Unburnable on the plane from New York to Copenhagen. I laughed aloud so often reading this wondrously intelligent book about Dominica and the United States and Africa, about gender, class and race, about love and sexuality, that the bespectacled man sitting next to me put his Wall Street Journal down and leaned over to see what the title was. He asked what it was about. I could have told him how it dealt honestly with issues without ever forgetting to keep character and soul as its centre, but instead I told him a tiny anecdote from the book about black women and thongs. And I much enjoyed his blush."
A Must Read.......2007-03-27
This is a great book to kick back in silence and just immerse yourself into suspense, deep thinking, and a few tears. I was just a little disappointed with the ending, but all in all this was a great read.
Not a Fluff Read!.......2007-01-14
I have been blessed enough in the last week to read not one but TWO great books this one being the greater. I will admit I wasn't wrapped up in the book by page two but by page ten I was all caught up in this story. Marie-Elena John is an EXCELLENT story teller. Her words are beautiful and her descriptions come off the page so effortlessly. I could've easily believed this was her third novel instead of her first. I laughed, I cried and I called all my friends and advised them to please read this book. I did not know anything about Dominica before picking up this novel and now I cannot learn enough. This book intrigued me to no end and I cannot wait to read future publishings from Marie-Elena John. This story is not in the least predictable and her knowledge on the subject matter is outstanding! If you are looking for a mind challenging novel that will shock and educate you at the same time then look no further.
Long Story Short.......2006-11-08
Interesting story, you have to continue to read this book and not stop or you might get side tracked if you put it down for too long.
Average customer rating:
|
Unveiled Voices, Unvarnished Memories: The Cromwell Family in Slavery And Segregation, 1692-1972
Adelaide M. Cromwell
Manufacturer: University of Missouri Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| Canada
| Caribbean & West Indies
| Central America
| General
| Greenland
| Mexico
| Native American
| South America
| United States
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Slavery & Emancipation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
African-American Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0826216765 |
Customer Reviews:
Compelling!.......2007-02-27
A compelling story from a family's records and letters about the slave markets of Maryland and their escape to professional careers over three generations.
Average customer rating:
|
The Pearl: A Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac
Josephine F. Pacheco
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Antebellum
| 19th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| 19th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
History
| African Americans
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Maryland
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Virginia
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Slavery & Emancipation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
African-American Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Escape on the Pearl: The Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad
-
The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics
ASIN: 0807829188
Release Date: 2005-02-09 |
Book Description
In the spring of 1848 seventy-six slaves from the nation's capital hid aboard a schooner called the Pearl in an attempt to sail down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay to freedom in Pennsylvania. When inclement weather forced them to anchor for the night, the fugitive slaves and the ship's crew were captured and returned to Washington. Many of the slaves were sold to the Lower South, and two men sailing the Pearl were tried and sentenced to prison.
Recounting this harrowing tale from the preparations for escape through the participants' trial, Josephine Pacheco provides fresh insight into the lives of enslaved blacks in the District of Columbia, putting a human face on the victims of the interstate slave trade, whose lives have been overshadowed by larger historical events. Pacheco also details the Congressional debates about slavery that resulted from this large-scale slave escape attempt. She contends that although the incident itself and the trials and Congressional disputes that followed were not directly responsible for bringing about an end to the slave trade in the nation's capital, they played a pivotal role in publicizing many of the issues surrounding slavery. Eventually, President Millard Fillmore pardoned the operators of the Pearl.
Book Description
Deceit, compromise, and betrayal were the painful costs of becoming American for many families. For people of Indian, African, and European descent living in the newly formed United States, the most personal and emotional choices--to honor a friendship or pursue an intimate relationship--were often necessarily guided by the harsh economic realities imposed by the country's racial hierarchy. Few families in American history embody this struggle to survive the pervasive onslaught of racism more than the Graysons. Like many other residents of the eighteenth-century Native American South, where Black-Indian relations bore little social stigma, Katy Grayson and her brother William--both Creek Indians--had children with partners of African descent. As the plantation economy began to spread across their native land soon after the birth of the American republic, however, Katy abandoned her black partner and children to marry a Scottish-Creek man. She herself became a slaveholder, embracing slavery as a public display of her elevated place in America's racial hierarchy. William, by contrast, refused to leave his black wife and their several children and even legally emancipated them. Traveling separate paths, the Graysons survived the invasion of the Creek Nation by U.S. troops in 1813 and again in 1836 and endured the Trail of Tears, only to confront each other on the battlefield during the Civil War. Afterwards, they refused to recognize each other's existence. In 1907, when Creek Indians became U.S. citizens, Oklahoma gave force of law to the family schism by defining some Graysons as white, others as black. Tracking a full five generations of the Grayson family and basing his account in part on unprecedented access to the forty-four volume diary of G. W. Grayson, the one-time principal chief of the Creek Nation, Claudio Saunt tells not only of America's past, but of its present, shedding light on one of the most contentious issues in Indian politics, the role of "blood" in the construction of identity. Overwhelmed by the racial hierarchy in the United States and compelled to adopt the very ideology that oppressed them, the Graysons denied their kin, enslaved their relatives, married their masters, and went to war against each other. Claudio Saunt gives us not only a remarkable saga in its own right but one that illustrates the centrality of race in the American experience.
Customer Reviews:
The Complexities of Race in America.......2006-01-07
I will always see the history of race in America differently after reading this courageous book. Professor Saunt complicates issues that once seemed more simple, but I take this as a result of his deep research and honesty about a sensitive matter. The book left me with great sympathy for those minority people who have had to make difficult choices in order to survive in an impossible, racist environment. What Faulkner saw intuitively, Saunt documents with careful research, that we are all brothers in America, literally. The lines between the races in America are tenuous at best, and often non-existent, much more a matter of choice and chance and upbringing than of blood and DNA.
some good facts, but too many assumptions.......2005-12-21
I'm one of the descendents of Katy Grayson, I've read the book cover to cover, and I was appalled at the mis-information and "selective reporting" that was perpetrated in this book. Claudio indeed obtained information from our family, but as his project progressed, it became apparent he had some sort of agenda to fulfill. The family (who is connected on the Internet) stopped emailing the fellow, lest something we say be twisted totally out of proportion. I think the most glaring example of misinformation in the book is the lack of critical thinking in assuming ANYTHING about the ethnic origins of our ancestress (Katy Grayson's mother), Sinoegee. All we know is, she was Native American, and married Robert Grierson of Scotland in Hillabee, Alabama. Assuming more is fantasy, not history.
I must give Mr. Saunt his due, in that he found many interesting facts that add to my own genealogical research into the Grayson family. I personally have no problems with my great great great grandmother Katy having children with a man of African origin. If any of my distant cousins, descended from "Black Graysons" are reading, I greet you with open arms and hope we can exchange notes. What disturbs me about the book is that it appears to have been written specifically to cause racial strife of some kind. We don't need this sort of book in our society today, I find it in bad taste and a more than a bit disgusting.
If Mr. Saunt wishes to distort sad events that happened 200 years ago, he is a man out of time. Civilization has and should progress beyond anger between the races over American slavery. The Irish and Scots were enslaved by the English in the past. Native Americans were enslaved by each other, and by the Spanish. African tribes conquered their neighbors and sold them for monetary gain and rum. If we were to drag out all the inequities of the past, the hatred would never end. I say, Mr. Saunt needs to let go of his anger, and quit portraying my family history through his selective informational lens. He needs to be more constructive with his research, and quit trying to hurt people by assuming motivations of their ancestors long dead and buried.
Putting it bluntly, Mr. Saunt is a very poor historical researcher, and needs to be more clinical in his fact gathering.
For what it's worth, my family has what is probably the only picture of Katy Grayson, and she is a very dark lady indeed, and very beautiful. I'm proud to be her red-headed descendent. She survived Indian Removal, and ALL of her descendants have nothing in any way shape or form to be ashamed of. We Graysons survived some very tough times by using our brains, and not worrying about the color of our skins.
Average customer rating:
|
Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello
Lucia Stanton
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Jefferson, Thomas
| ( J )
| People, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| 19th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Colonial Period
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Revolution & Founding
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Virginia
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Southeast
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Slavery & Emancipation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
African-American Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Virginia
| United States
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Biographies & Memoirs
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Reference
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Slavery at Monticello
-
Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy
-
Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture
-
Jefferson's Children: The Story of One American Family
-
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
ASIN: 1882886143
Release Date: 2001-12-02 |
Book Description
Although Thomas Jefferson, author of the words "All men are created equal," was a lifelong enemy of the institution of slavery, he considered over six hundred human beings his legal possessions over the course of his long life. Building on Stanton's highly acclaimed Slavery at Monticello, this fascinating work highlights the stories of six enslaved families who lived and worked at Monticello and provides general information on events and issues that affected the entire African-American community.
Informed by the extensive records and accounts of Thomas Jefferson, the book also draws from oral histories of the descendants of former slaves as well as the reminiscences and letters left by men and women who lived in slavery at Monticello. Stanton unveils the lives of the African Americans who experienced bondage on Jefferson's plantations and examines the wide variety of ways in which individuals responded to their situation, whether as "trusty servants," resourceful leaders, or outright rebels. The book also chronicles the many accomplishments of Monticello slaves and their descendants, either during their enslavement, as the creators of hand-crafted furniture in Monticello's joinery and European-inspired cuisine served in the Monticello dining room; or after gaining freedom, as the founders of churches and schools and businesses. The skills practiced at Monticello were carried to all parts of the country, and the fight for education, freedom, and family integrity continued long after they left the mountaintop.
Amazon.com
King, a historian at Michigan State University, has researched the lives of children growing up in slavery during the last century. Her sources include personal papers and U.S. government interviews with former slaves, all compiled in the 1930s. Children saw the carefree joys of their younger days fade as the grim boundaries of their lives became apparent. The humiliation and punishment of slaves was often inflicted publicly--a father whipped in front of his son as a salutary lesson to both the boy and the man. Parents could be sold off, losing all contact with their children. King relates how the songs and games of the children came to incorporate this harsh reality.
Book Description
The matriarch of a remarkable African American family, Sally Thomas went from being a slave on a tobacco plantation to a "virtually free" slave who ran her own business and purchased one of her sons out of bondage. In Search of the Promised Land offers a vivid portrait of the extended Thomas-Rapier family and of slave life before the Civil War. Based on personal letters and an autobiography by one of Thomas' sons, this remarkable piece of detective work follows the family as they walk the boundary between slave and free, traveling across the country in search of a "promised land" where African Americans would be treated with respect. Their record of these journeys provides a vibrant picture of antebellum America, ranging from New Orleans to St. Louis to the Overland Trail. The authors weave a compelling narrative that illuminates the larger themes of slavery and freedom while examining the family's experiences with the California Gold Rush, Civil War battles, and steamboat adventures. The documents show how the Thomas-Rapier kin bore witness to the full gamut of slavery--from brutal punishment, runaways, and the breakup of slave families to miscegenation, insurrection panics, and slave patrols. The book also exposes the hidden lives of "virtually free" slaves, who maintained close relationships with whites, maneuvered within the system, and gained a large measure of autonomy.
Customer Reviews:
So much in so little.......2006-02-02
I was taken back by the small size of this book and then taken back again by how much history it contains. Not the stuff of dry history textbooks, this book illuminates this era with detail you won't find elsewhere and engages the reader with its intensely personal story.
An Excellent History of an Antebellum Slave Family.......2005-11-25
Drs. Schweninger and Franklin have written an excellent history of the remarkable slave woman Sally Thomas and her three sons, James and Henry Thomas and John H. Rapier, Sr.
The book chronicles the fortunes of a "quasi-free" slave woman and her efforts to secure freedom and financial security for her three mulatto sons in Nashville, Tennessee. The authors deftly describe the often contradictory attitudes of while Nahvillians to African-Americans, both slaves and free people of color. For example, though techincally still a slave, Sally Thomas nevertheless, as a "quasi-free" slave was able to buy property, own her own home, and become a successful and respected businesswoman (opening her own laundry on Deadrick Street), as did her sons James, Henry and John (who were all three successful barbers). The authors describe a further contradiction in white attitudes to Antebellum blacks as, after much hard work and thriftiness Sally saved up enough money to buy her son James' freedom. After being granted their freedom free blacks were required by Tennessee law to leave the state, However James (and several other free persons of color), based upon exemplary moral character, successfully petitioned the court to be allowed to remain in Nashville.
The book also chronicles the lives and adventures of Sally's three sons, James and Henry Thomas and John H. Rapier, Sr.. One of Rapier's sons, James Thomas, was elected to the US Congress from Alabama in 1873.
The book does a great job of putting the Thomas-Rapier family into the context of the times in which they lived, vividly describing the social, political and religious life of Nashvile residents, both white and black, slave and free in the 1820s, 30s, 40s and 50s. As stated above, the book also demonstrates the often contradictory views of African-Americans taken by whites and portrays the ways in which slaves like Sally Thomas enjoyed relationships with whites, artfully maneuvered within the system of slavery to gain a large measure of autonomy, and were in the end respected by whites. This book may serve to overturn some long-held assumptions regarding Antebellum slavery. The authors do a masterful job of describing just how "peculiar" the institution of slavery was in actual fact.
As a resident of the Rapiers' home town of Florence, Alabama, as well as a genealogist and historian at out public library, "In Search of the Promised Land," along with Schweninger's earlier "James T. Rapier and Reconstruction," and his publication of the autobiography of James P. Thomas, "From Tennessee Slave to St. Louis Entrepeneur," is a valubale addition to our Rapier family record collection. The authors are to be commended on their impeccable research and scholarship, while at the same time, weaving this scholarship into a genuinely readable and enjoyable narrative. I highly recommend this book. My only criticism would be the hardback's small size. Still, at 280 pages, a great book!
Average customer rating:
- The strength of slave women
|
The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation (Studies in Modern Capitalism)
Wilma A. Dunaway
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Economic History
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| 19th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
History
| African Americans
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Slavery & Emancipation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gender Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Marriage & Family
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
African-American Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Family Relationships
| Parenting & Families
| Subjects
| Books
| Child Abuse
| Divorce
| Dysfunctional Relationships
| Fatherhood
| General
| Grandparenting
| Motherhood
| Parent & Adult Child
| Siblings
| Stepparenting & Blended Families
| Twins & Multiples
Similar Items:
-
Slavery in the American Mountain South (Studies in Modern Capitalism)
-
Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study
ASIN: 0521012163 |
Book Description
Wilma Dunaway contends that studies of the U.S. slave family are flawed by the neglect of small plantations and export zones and the exaggeration of slave agency. Using data on population trends and slave narratives, Dunaway identifies several profit-maximizing strategies that owners implemented to disrupt and endanger African-American families. These effective strategies include forced labor migrations, structural interference in marriages and childcare, sexual exploitation of women, shortfalls in provision of basic survival needs, and ecological risks. This book is unique in its examination of new threats to family persistence that emerged during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Download Description
Wilma Dunaway contends that studies of the U.S. slave family are flawed by the neglect of small plantations and export zones and the exaggeration of slave agency. Using data on population trends and slave narratives, Dunaway identifies several profit-maximizing strategies that owners implemented to disrupt and endanger African-American families. These effective strategies include forced labor migrations, structural interference in marriages and childcare, sexual exploitation of women, shortfalls in provision of basic survival needs, and ecological risks. This book is unique in its examination of new threats to family persistence that emerged during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Customer Reviews:
The strength of slave women.......2005-11-29
Dunaway does a remarkable job of detailing the lives of Appalachian slaves. Full of facts and statistics this book is invaluable to the history student and captivating to the history buff. The author sheds light on the day to day lives of slaves, including marriage practices, truancy, chores and general resistance. Subtle resistance and coping strategies of slaves are included within each chapter. The reader should appreciate the information related specifically to women (and not merely the sexual exploitation aspect)since available information often refers to men or slaves in general. Dunaway's well organized information flows smoothly throught the book making it a good reference source while holding the readers interest as if a novel. As a college student I found this book to be very useful in writing history papers. As a historian it has become one of my favorite books.
Average customer rating:
|
Chained to the Rock of Adversity: To Be Free, Black, and Female in the Old South (Southern Voices from the Past)
Manufacturer: University of Georgia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
United States Civil War
| Military
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Civil War
| United States
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Antebellum
| 19th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
History
| African Americans
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Civil War
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Civil War
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Louisiana
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Mississippi
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Midwest
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Slavery & Emancipation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
African-American Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
No Cross, No Crown: Black Nuns in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans
ASIN: 0820320838 |
Customer Reviews:
BLACK WOMEN'S VOICES.......2000-09-07
THIS TERRIFIC BOOK RECAPTURES BLACK WOMEN'S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE UNIQUE LIVES THEY LED. WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT FREE BLACK WOMEN IN THE SOUTH AND THESE LETTERS AND DIARIES BRING TO LIFE A NEGLECTED CHAPTER OF OUR HISTORY AND THEIR EXPERIENCE.....PLUS THE DIARY OF THIS YOUNG BLACK WOMAN DURING THE CIVIL WAR IS A COMPELLING HISTORICAL VOICE. THE EDITOR HAS DONE A TERRIFIC JOB SETTING THESE VOICES IN CONTEXT SO WE CAN ONCE AGAIN HEAR THEIR STORIES AND READ THE WORDS OF LOST BLACK WOMEN FROM THE PAST.
Average customer rating:
- I Like It !!!
- A librarian
- Review: Journal Of An Emancipated Slave
- A Book To Read Again and Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
The Journal of Darien Dexter Duff, an Emancipated Slave
K. J. McWilliams
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1403356742 |
Book Description
Darien Dexter Duff, Junior, the older brother of Daneece and "Doofy Doofus" Duff was born on a Louisiana plantation prior to the Civil War. After the bloody war ended slaves were free to live and work where they pleased. So, Pappy and Mammy decided to seek a job elsewhere with their 3 children and Mammy's Sister Sue and her six children. Darien records the family's trek through Ole Gassy Swamp that was infested with dangerous critters. The family eventually finds employment in a sawmill in Great Piney Woods that is haunted by the Great Piney Wood Witches! After a scare by a "witch," a frolic with a tribe of Chicopee Indians, the family lose their jobs. They are then joined by their friends, Mammy Marie and her pretty gal, Solange. They trek to the Mississippi River and ride on a paddleboat, commanded by Captain Sam, Riverboat Man, to the bustling port of New Orleans. And throughout the peril and hilarity, Darien Duff records everything in his journal. The book includes photos and nonfiction information that will interest parents, teachers, and librarians. Be sure to read The Journal of Leroy Jeremiah Jones, a Fugitive Slave (Alabama 1855) and The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo (South Carolina 1718)
Customer Reviews:
I Like It !!!.......2003-04-04
The Journal of Darien Dexter Duff, an Emancipated Slave
by Karen McWilliams
The reader is introduced to a different view of slavery life thru the eyes of a slave child's journal. The family's freedom flight along the Mississippi River is reminiscent of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
The confusion of sudden freedom and the unknown is shown by McWilliams as a refreshing excitement of the simplest of things for the whole family.
Freedom is a joy to the soul in spite of hardships---then as now.
Other journals and diaries by McWilliams presenting more insights into the lives of slave children are:
"The Journal of Leroy Jeremiah Jones, A Fugitive Slave"
"The Diary of A Slave Girl, Ruby Jo"
These well researched books belong with your books on US History.
A librarian.......2003-02-16
I have read 4 books written by K. J. McWilliams and in my opinion this is the best one. I have read this book to several children and they are thrilled at the adventures of Darien, his friends and his family. Darien is portrayed as a lovable impish child that everyone, children and adults alike, can relate to.
The book is a great tool to teach family values.
Although this book is fiction all the facts are true. The language and pictures used make the book come alive. It serves as a good history book for that time period.
K.J. McWilliams' writing makes the book both humorous and informative for all ages to read.
Review: Journal Of An Emancipated Slave.......2003-02-11
Written in a believable dialect (and, fun to read out loud), Darien Dexter's journal takes young (and old) readers on a journey from a remote, slave-owner's plantation, to a bustling, post-Civil-War "NEW OR'LANS."
Although the journey is wrought with peril, K.J. treats each trial and tribulation in a manner suitable for youngsters.
I read the whole story to my wife, a little bit each night, just before falling off to sleep. It was a treat for both of us! Although the characters are fictional, the "Journal's" content, its epilogue and the detailed, historical photos of the era, make them seem as real as history.
I can't wait to read it to my grandkids!
A Book To Read Again and Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2002-12-21
This book begins in central Louisiana immediately after slaves are emancipated at the end of the Civil War. Darien Dexter Duff is Daneece and Doofy Doofus' older brother. Their Pappy and Mammy decide to seek a better life elsewhere, so they take their family and Auntie Sue and her six children, Cousin Ernie, Jenny & June, Baby Rose, Horace and Henry and trek across Ole Gassy Swamp where one of the boys almost gets eaten by a wild hog. After an adventurous time they eventually find work in the Great Piney Wood that the children believe is haunted by the Great Piney Wood Witches. When they lose their jobs, the family, who is now joined by Mammy Marie and her pretty gal, Solange, catches a paddleboat down the Mississippi to New Orleans where they live in Ramshackle Shack. But along the way the ten children manage to get in one hillarious scrape after another even though what they're going through is a very troublesome and turbulent time. This book is a fun adventure which teaches children a lot about American history in the late 1800's. I plan to read it at least one more time. And I recommend it to children over ten and their parents and teachers!!!!!!!! The Journal of DDD is one of the best books I've ever read. I also recommend The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo that takes place in South Carolina and The Journal of Leroy Jeremiah Jones, a Fugitive Slave that takes place in Alabama. All the books have photos of real slaves and other things having to do with slavery.
Books:
- What Life Was Like in the Lands of the Prophet: Islamic World, Ad 570-1405 (What Life Was Like)
- When, Where, Why, and How It Happened (Readers Digest)
- World History in Brief: Major Patterns of Change and Continuity, Volume I (to 1450) (Book Alone) (5th Edition)
- A History of World Societies: Since 1500
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (New York Review Books Classics)
- Afro-American History: Primary Sources (History)
- After Fidel: Raul Castro and the Future of Cuba's Revolution
- After the Fact, with Primary Source Investigator CD
- Alcoholic Thinking: Language, Culture, and Belief in Alcoholics Anonymous
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Delivering Project Excellence With the Statement of Work
- Tying Classic Freshwater Streamers: An Illustrated Step-by-Step Guide
- Teaching in the Knowledge Society: Education in the Age of Insecurity
- The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings on an American Composer
- Weeds of the Northeast
- The Weather Wizard's Cloud Book: A Unique Way to Predict the Weather Accurately and Easily by Readin
- Troubleshooting & Repairing Consumer Electronics Without a Schematic
- Resident Evil 3 Nemesis: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
- Off Guide to Bus Letters, Memos, Rpts
Becoming Abigail
The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner
Nowhere Is a Place
Prospero's Daughter: A Novel
Neecey's Lullaby: A novel
