JEFFERSON'S SONS by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley: A Middle-Grade Review

 When my 13-year-old granddaughter highly recommends an author, I listen. Last year she recommended Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's books, The War that Saved My Life and The War I Finally Won. I loved them both and immediately had to find out what else Bradley wrote. When I discovered Jefferson's Sons, it became a must-read. For those of you who have read my Half-Truths page, you'll see why.

Many years ago I read Sally Hemings: A Novel. The story of Jefferson's hidden romance with his slave has stayed with me. Bradley took the facts about that 38-year relationship and put "meat on the bones." The names of their seven children are historical facts. The author took those names, researched their backgrounds and the time period, and did an amazing job of imagining their stories. The story is so well-written that I had to keep reminding myself that it's a work of historical fiction.

As the Kirkus review points out, this book is told from the third-person point of view of two of the sons, Beverly and Madison, as well as from an enslaved boy. This last perspective provides important insights into the entire Jefferson story--contradictions and all. Bradley transitions so smoothly from one point of view into the next that I had to stop reading to realize what had just happened. 

REVIEW

Sometimes I review books by typing out portions of the book (this is also a good way to learn how to write!). Since Bradley's re-creation is so powerful, I decided to do that this time.

The first perspective is from the oldest boy's POV, Beverly when he is about seven. His mother, Sally Hemmings, is the first speaker.

"There is nothing inside, either one of you, or anyone else--Joe Fossett or Uncle John or me or anyone--that makes you a slave, that says you have to be one, that says you're different from somebody who isn't a slave. This difference is other people--people who make laws and put other people into slavery and work to keep them there."

Mama's eyes blazed. "But you aren't really slaves either," she said. She rocked Maddy back and forth in her arms. "You remember that. You'll never be told and you'll never be beaten and when you turn twenty-one you'll be free...That's a promise. A promise your father made me about all the children we might have. You'll be free."

"How can he promise that?" Beverly asked. "He can't just make us free."

Mama paused, growing. "He can," she said.

"Because he's the president?

"Because he owns us," Mama said. "He owns all of Monticello. The buildings and the farms. The people too."

Harriet asked, "You mean, because he's our daddy?"

Mama shook her head. She said, "Because he's Master Jefferson." (p. 35)

                                                                ****

About two years later, Mama gives Beverly a genealogy lesson. She draws lines to all of Beverly's great-grandparents so he can see he has seven white ancestors and one black ancestor. 

Mama nodded. "The law says that any slave's children are always slaves, but it also says that any person who has seven out of eight white great-grandparents is legally white. So you and Harriet and Maddy are white people. You're slaves, but you're white."

"Nobody acts like I'm white," Beverly said.

"No. They won't, because you're a slave. But think on it, Beverly. Someday you won't be a slave. You'll be a free white man."

Beverly thought of the white people he knew. They got to be bosses, mostly, and they lived in nicer houses than the black people he knew. Still. "I don't want to be white," he said. "White people are mean."

"Not all of them," Mama said..."It's easier to be white," she said. "It's safer."  (P. 82-83)

Two years later Mama sharply reproves him for talking about how Jefferson is his father in public. Family members and visitors often see the family resemblance between the two. She responds to his anger about the situation:

"It's already been in newspapers once, years ago, about me and your father, but he lived it down and it's mostly been forgotten.  Somebody decides to publish the truth about you and your siblings, and guess what? You'd be famous. Thomas Jefferson's half-white son." Mama's eyes blazed. "A famous slave, Beverly. You'd never get away from it. You'd never really be free."

                                                        ....

"If you pass for white you'll be safer and if you're known to be my son by Thomas Jefferson you will never be allowed to pass.  (pp. 113-4).

http://www.mountolivethistory.com/stories-in-stone-blog/the-other-tjs-other-daughter
"First paragraph of James T. Callender's newspaper editorial, titled "The President Again," which first exposed the purported relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, one of Jefferson's teenaged slaves. (from the Richmond Recorder, Sept 1802)"

In these conversations, Beverly learns powerful lessons about himself, his father, and the world. 

                                                    ****

About a third of the way into the narrative, the story shifts to Beverly's younger brother, James "Maddy" Hemming's. He longs to get his father's attention and when he hears that Master Jefferson's pet mockingbird died, he catches another one and brings it to him. The President pays him fifty cents which is a lot more money than Maddy had ever had before. But that's not what he was looking for. 

The coins were cold in his hand. Inside the cage, the bird made a sudden, wild squawk, and beat its wings against the bars.

Maddy swallowed. The most awful feeling came over him, all at once, like water poured out of a bucket onto his head.

That bird had been free, and now it was a slave. From now on it has to live where Master Jefferson wanted it to live, eat what Master Jefferson gave it to eat, even whistle the songs Master Jefferson wanted it to sing. He, Maddy, had sold that bird into slavery. (p. 144)

                                                                ****      

Like his older brother Beverly, Maddy also struggles to understand the implications of his skin color. In an interchange with his friend, Maddy claims that he needs to learn to read for the time when he's going "to be white." After comparing the color of their hands his friend says. "I already know I'm not white." He paused again. "Neither are you."

                                                ***    

When Master Jefferson sells his friend, Maddy is angry.

Harriet, his older sister, asks him, "What, "she said, "do you think slavery is?"

Maddy glared at her. Harried took no notice. 

"I'll tell you," she said. "It's not having any say. Any choice. Not about you, not about your family, not about anything. Forget not having to work for someone. Forget not being paid. It's the way. The not having any say."

"I know that," Maddy said.

"You act like you don't. You act like you're just now discovering what everyone else understood all along."  (p. 227)

http://www.mountolivethistory.com/stories-in-stone-blog/the-other-tjs-other-daughter

"An interesting miniature portrait sold on eBay in 2012 which was said to be of Harriet Hemings. One of the papers inside the piece indicates the subject as "Harriett Hemings", president Thomas Jefferson had two daughter's with his slave Sally Hemings, named Harriett, one dying shortly after birth, and the other, often known as "Harriet II", was born at Monticello in 1801 and was known to be working in the textile factory by age 14. It was well known that she was very light skinned and could "pass for white". The interesting thing here that the artist truthfully portrayed was that although she had very light skin, she still had African American features."

As you can tell from these quotes, this is a powerful work of historical fiction. Although it is out of print--which I find hard to understand--it can still be bought through used books sites. Teachers, you'll find that is an important resource when your class is studying colonial America, black history, and slavery. 

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Congratulations to Julie Lyon for winning A TAKE CHARGE GIRL from last week's blog.

Don't forget to stop by Greg Pattridge's MMGM blog for more great MG books.

After I Passed: Lillian's Poem

Congratulations to Jo Lynn Worden for winning "You Are Mine, Porcupine." She is my cousin-in-law  and has several porcupettes she'll read the book to!

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Some writers use prompts or free writes when they're trying to figure out what their character is thinking or feeling, or what happens next in a story. I use poetry.

Since I'm writing HALF-TRUTHS from Kate's POV, the following poem, from Lillian's POV, may never appear. (If you are new to my blog and are unfamiliar with the young adult historical novel that I am writing, please click on the link.) I wanted to explore how Lillian felt after she successfully passed at the Woolworth's lunch counter. Because she is light-skinned, the waitress doesn't realize she's a Negro. But in order to sit down at the counter, she and Kate walk past her friends who her standing at the end of the counter eating hotdogs. Afterwards, Kate is jubilant because Lillian sat at the WHITES ONLY counter, but Lillian realizes she hasn't proved anything.

*******

AFTER I PASSED 

What does this girl know about me?

Does she think 

I am a chameleon who just blends in with its surroundings?

I think she thinks we’re friends. 

But, how can we be friends when she doesn’t understand

who I am: 

my past, 

my present. 

My struggles,

my people’s struggles. 

She’s like every other white person who thinks she knows what’s best for me.

What did I get in return? 

Humiliation in front of my friends.

They saw me try to pretend.

They saw me try to be someone I’m not. 

They saw me turn my back 

on 

my 

self.

I should have nothing to do with her.
She is white bread without even 

    one 

        pat 

           of butter. 

 **********

If you're a writer, how do you get deeper into your character's POV? If you are a reader, do you consider POV when you read a book? What makes or breaks it for you?

Eyes on the Prize - Audio Book review and Giveaway

Congratulations to Megan Hoyt and Becky Scharnhorst who won copies of Viviane Elbee's book, Teach Your Giraffe to Ski.

It's hard to review a book that covers the entire Civil Rights period in as much detail as Eyes On the Prize by Juan Williams does. The book, suitable for adults and young adults, is simultaneously comprehensive, academic, and personal. Williams wrote it as a companion to the first season of the NPR series with the same title. As noted below, several segments are now on YouTube. 

Even though I have read many books on the civil rights era, William's book showed how one event led to another--like dominoes falling in succession. I recommended it to one of my experts, Vermelle Ely, who enjoys audio books. When we had talked previously my questions were about Charlotte and Second Ward High. When I asked her about Little Rock she said, "Sure we knew about it. But back then, news didn’t travel so fast." Her remark was historically revealing.

Although I have chosen different portions of the book to highlight, it is very difficult to summarize any of these historical events. For more detail--please read the book!

PART I

https://youtu.be/Ts10IVzUDVw
1954-1956

Charles Hamilton Houston served as a mentor to a generation of black lawyers leading up to the Civil Rights period. He was instrumental in attacking the "separate but equal" rules that governed the Jim Crow South. He investigated educational discrimination by creating movies of the schools for black children. Although he started with elementary schools, his goal was to develop graduate programs that were nonexistent for blacks. Houston was instrumental in pulling together the cases (including the historic challenge in Clarendon County, SC as I blogged about here) to create the lawsuit that eventually led to the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Interestingly, Williams said that Emmit Till's murder did more for civil rights than Brown vs. the Board of Education as it brought the plight of southern blacks to national attention. 

PART II

 https://youtu.be/4D5xwC6M_Gk
1957-1962

Since blacks frequently used buses for transportation to work, Williams noted that it was no accident that bus boycotts throughout the South became the stage of protest. "Indignity suffered alone was debilitating, but indignity shared was powerful."  Although blacks feared white reprisal for their boycotts (losing their jobs and physical violence) a growing sentiment was that the time had come to take a stand for freedom. 

During this time Martin Luther King, Jr. preached nonviolence. Segregationists put pressure on white commissioners not to give in to black boycotts. The boycotts received national attention and

bus segregation started to be challenged in courts. 

The behind the scenes politics in all the cities, but especially Little Rock, AK were fascinating.  Desegregation was a political football from the local level all the way up to President Eisenhower. The politicians, including Governor Faubus, were often more interested in grandstanding than fair play. 

It was also interesting to track the role of the NAACP Youth Council as young adults and college students became involved in the movement. Williams features Diane Nash, John Lewis, and Jim Lawson who were leaders in nonviolent protests at lunch counters throughout the South. President Kennedy was deeply influenced by the student protests and became an important advocate of civil rights. An interesting segment at the end of the book details where these individuals were in 1987 when the book was published.

PART V

https://youtu.be/aP2A6_2b6g8
1962-1964

In this section I heard the sad story of Medgar Evars, a WWII veteran and civil rights activist who was murdered in 1963 by a Klansman. "All we wanted was to be ordinary citizens. If the Japs and Germans didn’t kill us, it looked like white Mississippians would." He was rejected at the University of Mississippi law school and was very active in the NAACP. This invovlement could lead blacks to being called niggers, alligators, apes, coons, possums and was often equated with being a Communist. 

Similar to the political maneuverings in Little Rock, the behind-the-scenes events among the Mississippi delegation and Lyndon B. Johnson's negotiations at the 1964 Democratic convention were insightful and fascinating. 

I can't possibly summarize Freedom Summer in 1964 when blacks were trying to register to vote. Whites threatened economic reprisals even though at times the blacks were better educated than the whites registering them. It was a summer of violence when President Johnson was spending money on Vietnam while blacks were being killed. But black teenagers singing the Star Spangled Banner and the marches from Selma to Montgomery were a source of inspiration to many. 

Williams noted that the decade between 1954 and 1964 saw more social change and more court decisions than any other decade. The lives of blacks and whites were forever changed because of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1960, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Television forced the print press to be more honest. The white perspective was no longer the only one heard.

Listen to this audio snippet of the book and see what a fine job actor Sean Crisden did. 

GIVEAWAY

Leave me a comment by October 4 with your email address if you are new to my blog. Tantor Audio will provide a code for the winner to download the book.

Seeing Red--and a Giveaway!

Congratulations to Cindy Clemens who won a copy of The Boy Project on last week's blog; thanks to all for entering. Here's another chance to win a super book- this time for the favorite middle grade boy in your life!

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When I received a copy of Kathy Erskine's middle grade novel, Seeing Red, (Scholastic, 2013) I was happy for the opportunity to review it. Although set in a different state and time period than my WIP, Half-Truths,  (Virginia, 1972 as opposed to North Carolina, 1950), racial tensions and multi-generational secrets create the backbone of both stories. 

Twelve-year-old Red Porter's world is falling apart. His father just died and his mother thinks she needs to move him and his younger brother back to Ohio. Red is determined to save their convenience store (aptly named, "What-U-Want") and Porter's garage--the car repair shop that was built by Red's great-great-granddaddy over a hundred years ago. Red's roots burrow deep in the town of Stony Gap and when his mother puts the house up for sale, Red does everything in his power to circumvent the sale.

But Red's story is bigger than just a grieving boy who wants to hold unto his home place. It's a coming-of-age story full of the choices Red must make. 

In an effort to prove himself worthy of becoming a part of a gang of guys, Red's loyalty to his black friend Thomas is tested and found lacking.  An ongoing family feud between his close friend Rosie's family and the Porter family over disputed property lines puts both Rosie and Red in precarious positions. Red must consider the consequences of coming to Rosie's aid or not. 

Conversations with his teacher, Miss Miller, help Red to begin to understand the racism that exists in their town. Conversations with Miss Georgia, Thomas's grandmother, help Red uncover secrets buried deep in the town soil--secrets which incriminate his great-great-grandfather in a murder against one of Thomas's ancestors. As Red wrestles with the implications, he has a pivotal conversation with his friend Beau:

"I don't think it's how you look what makes you different. I think it's how you act."
We stood in silence for a while until Beau spoke again. "The way I see it is you got a chance now to make the name Frederick Stewart Porter stand for something different.'
"How? It's a pretty bad legacy."
"I know it is. But you can do it."
"How," I said again, not as a question. I didn't really expect an answer.
"Because you ain't just that nasty old Fredrick Steward Porters' great-great-grandown. You's also your daddy's son." (p. 288)

This is a great book to use in a classroom to discuss racism, grief, forgiveness, and family relationships. You can find a discussion guide here and a playlist of music that was popular in the 1970's.

To get this giveaway in before Christmas, I'm giving you only a few days to enter. Please leave me a comment by 8 o'clock on December 22. Make sure you leave me your email address if you're new to my blog. I look forward to giving this to a young reader who will be inspired by Red's story.