Sometimes I just can’t help buying books! But you’ve heard me say it before: it’s not really a bad habit if it’s informing my research and helping to improve my skills, right? It doesn’t matter if I haven’t read everything in the last batch yet (lol), it’s more about having the right books for the right time, and that right time might be today, tomorrow, or sometime in the future.
So, yeah, I’ve bought about 10 new books in the past month or so. They actually split pretty neatly into 2 categories, so I’m breaking this topic into 2 posts, with this first one focusing on memoirs and tracing specific families. I’m also including one book I bought last year, but it didn’t make it into a roundup and it fits well here. So, what’d I get?
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the South, by Michael Twitty
Because I work in the history field, with particular experience in both African American and 18th century-focused museums, and because I’ve long had an interest in Black culinary history (remember my first genealogy project?), Michael Twitty’s name is one I’ve long been familiar with. When this book came out, I heard the buzz, but with a long list of things to focus on and books to read, I didn’t immediately grab it. But, last year, when I was in New Orleans for a friend’s wedding, I decided to visit a museum I’d never heard of before: The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience. What a cool chance to consider the specificity of a topic I’d never really considered before! I decided I wanted to get a couple of things from the gift shop to remember my visit, and lo-and-behold, Michael Twitty’s book was in the shop, as he is both Black and Jewish. And so, now, a copy of his book is on my shelf, and I’m looking forward to reading it!
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families, by Judith Giesberg
I’m breaking my alphabetical listing order to place this one before I Am Nobody’s Slave, because I purchased them both at the same time, but Last Seen is really the driver of this story. Many moons ago, I learned about a project based out of Villanova University, which is just outside my hometown of Philadelphia, PA, where a professor named Judy Giesberg had partnered with the archivist of Philadelphia’s historic Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church to digitize and transcribe an amazing set of records. These records were “information wanted” ads, where previously enslaved people of African descent who had been separated from their families through the horrors of slavery (or through their or their family members’ freedom-seeking efforts due to the horrors of slavery) asked the public for help locating the family members they wanted to be reunited with. The ads are heartbreaking and full of hope, and were published in newspapers across the nation, including the Christian Recorder, which was published by Mother Bethel.
I – and my genealogy group – have been involved in the project at various stages, and when I learned that Judy’s book tracing the stories of 10 families for whom ads had been placed had been published and would be the subject of a talk at The Free Library of Philadelphia, I immediately got a ticket, and bought a copy of the book. I’m more than halfway through, and it’s been fascinating, heartbreaking, and inspiring to see the stories of these men, women, and children fleshed out beyond the ads. And – full disclosure – I recently got to reflect on all of this with Judy and radio host Marty Moss-Coane on WHYY’s The Connection. You should check out the original project here, which has expanded well beyond the Christian Recorder at this point and includes almost 5,000 ads: https://informationwanted.org/.
I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free, by Lee Hawkins
I mentioned I bought my copy of Judy Giesberg’s book at a book talk at the Free Library of Philadelphia. What I didn’t mention was that it was a paired conversation, bringing Judy into conversation with journalist Lee Hawkins, who recently published a memoir about his efforts to understand his family history and the painful legacy of violence that was all-to-recent within it. Hawkin’s reading, and his personal reflections, inspired me to purchase the book. I’m always interested in how people choose to write about their families, and this sounded like an example of storytelling done well. I haven’t yet begun to read it, but I’m looking forward to doing so. If you want to listed to his conversation with Judy Giesberg and moderator Cherri Gregg, the Free Library of Philadelphia has published it as a podcast: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast/episode/2375.
The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir, by Martha S. Jones
I recently had the pleasure of hosting a program featuring legal historian Martha S. Jones at my museum. Through my job, I was familiar with her previous work, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, and as I researched her for this program, I was excited to learn that she had a new book soon to be released, that was all about her family history! I immediately pre-ordered a copy. Then at the event, I had the absolute privilege of being given an advance reader copy of the book by Martha herself! I dove in.
Martha is dealing with a very specific aspect of her identity and history: what it means to be mixed race while identifying as Black. And what it means to be mixed race where members of your family have walked a tightrope of racial identification, where genetics and appearance, and the relationships between family, community, and opportunity, are complicated. It’s a fascinating exploration of one family’s story, and I appreciated that we were able to return to specific members of the family across various “case study” chapters to learn more about them and their relationships to others. I was also intrigued by her occasional use of artistic license to imagine what might have been true when the historical record left holes, which she warns the reader about in the beginning and generally signals when entering into, before returning to contradictory evidence or to the historical record. It’s a challenge all genealogists face, especially when writing for a non-specialist audience, so it was interesting to see how she addressed those historical silences.
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So that’s what’s new on my shelf recently when it comes to individual family stories. Stay tuned for Part 2, where I lift up a few of my more topic-specific new purchases, which – spoiler alert – focus in on the 1930s, oral history, or both.
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What’s new on YOUR genealogy or history bookshelf? Or what’s OLD, but you love to recommend it? Leave a note in the comments below!
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