Freedom's Child: The Life of a Confederate General's Black Daughter
Mary Rice Hayes Allen was born in 1876, the offspring of a former Confederate general and his black domestic servant. That in and of itself was hardly an exceptional occurrence. Yet, as McCray's wonderful narrative reveals, both the father and his daughter didn't fit the molds reserved for them. The father, J. R. Jones, publicly acknowledged his paternity, paid for his daughter's upkeep and education, and suffered social ostracism as a result. His daughter became a teacher, bore 10 children, and was a pioneer in the civil rights movement, displaying the same courage and dogged tenacity that her father showed on the battlefield. McCray, trained as a teacher and social worker, turned to writing at the age of 73, and her biography of her mother is clearly a labor of love. It is a sweeping story that deftly interweaves the personal saga of a woman with her tumultuous times--a worthy tribute to an extraordinary human being.Jay Freeman--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.