Title: Sugar of the crop : my journey to find the children of slaves /
Authors: Butler, Sana
Publisher: Lyons Press,
Year: 2009
Subjects: Butler, Sana Travel United States.; African Americans Race identity; Children of freed persons United States Interviews.; Slavery United States Psychological aspects.; African American families History.; African American families Social conditions.; United States Race relations
Abstract: In an unprecedented quest to find the last surviving children of slaves, searching from Los Angeles to New Orleans, from Virginia nursing homes to Alabama churches, Sana Butler provides a fascinating picture of African American life and its legacy in the post-Civil War world. Drawing on interviews she began in the summer of 1997 with centenarian sons and daughters of slaves, Butler reveals how African Americans emerged from slavery with a deep commitment to the future and a powerful energy to make the most of their opportunities, large and small. Like immigrants in a new land, freed slaves faced a new America with enthusiastic hopes and dreams for their children. The children of slaves were raised to be independent and often fearless thinkers, laying the groundwork for what would later become the Civil Rights Movement.--From publisher description.
Contents: Curiosity kills the cat -- New York: pen and paper -- California: sipping on Dom Perignon -- Virginia: one life to live -- Kentucky: master in the family -- Indiana: black man's protection -- Kentucky: "I found Ray Charles" -- Kentucky: pit stops -- Tennessee: interracial adoption -- Mississippi: deaf in one ear -- Alabama: lessons from the grave -- California: the rental market -- North Carolina: driving while black -- South Africa: reconciliation hearings -- Connecticut: " ... and grace will lead me home" -- South Carolina: a meeting at the Piggly Wiggly.