num_pages: 337
description: “What color is God, Grandma?” little Johnny Cross cried, his black face tear-streaked. Aunt Liney held her grandson tight, comforting him. Bobby Wayne watched, puzzled. Didn’t he tell the truth? Black folks couldn’t go to heaven. Daddy said so — even though Aunt Liney and Mama shared a deep friendship, teaching the children that God has no color. Yet Daddy called Negroes lazy, ignorant, and believing in things like the chisel tree, where the chain-gang escapees could supposedly find the hidden tools needed to cut their leg-irons. Bobby Wayne grows up and leaves his family and birthplace, achieving worldly success. Decades later, he moves to Texas, seeking a peaceful life. In 1998, he hears of the brutal murder of an East Texas black man. Memories boil up — mid-century, mid-summer, mid-Georgia, midnight rides of the Klan. He must seek redemption for his own transgressions. Thus he begins a desperate quest for his own chisel tree.
language: English
title: The Chisel Tree
titlecomplete: The Chisel Tree
publisher: PublishAmerica