Truevine
Subtitle: two brothers, a kidnapping, and a mother's quest : a true story of the Jim Crow South
By: Beth Macy
Edition: Large print edition.
Series: Thorndike Press large print peer picks; Thorndike Press large print peer picks
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 609
ISBN-13: 9781410496188
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Children of sharecroppers; Kidnapping; Racism in popular culture; Mothers and sons; Child circus performers; Albinos and albinism; Large type books; African American boys; African Americans; Biography; History
Other titles: Two brothers, a kidnapping, and a mother's quest; 2 brothers, a kidnapping, and a mother's quest
Description: The true story of two African-American brothers who were kidnapped and displayed as circus freaks, and whose mother endured a 28-year struggle to get them back. The year was 1899 and the place a sweltering tobacco farm in the Jim Crow South town of Truevine, Virginia. George and Willie Muse were two little boys born to a sharecropper family. One day a white man offered them a piece of candy, setting off events that would take them around the world and change their lives forever. Captured into the circus, the Muse brothers performed for royalty at Buckingham Palace and headlined over a dozen sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. They were global superstars in a pre-broadcast era. But the very root of their success was in the color of their skin and in the outrageous caricatures they were forced to assume: supposed cannibals, sheep-headed freaks, even "Ambassadors from Mars." Back home, their mother never accepted that they were "gone" and spent 28 years trying to get them back. Through hundreds of interviews and decades of research, Beth Macy expertly explores a central and difficult question: Where were the brothers better off? On the world stage as stars or in poverty at home? TRUEVINE is a compelling narrative rich in historical detail and rife with implications to race relations today.

"The true story of two African-American brothers who were kidnapped and displayed as circus freaks, and whose mother endured a 28-year struggle to get them back. The year was 1899 and the place a sweltering tobacco farm in the Jim Crow South town of Truevine, Virginia. George and Willie Muse were two little boys born to a sharecropper family. One day a white man offered them a piece of candy, setting off events that would take them around the world and change their lives forever. Captured into the circus, the Muse brothers performed for royalty at Buckingham Palace and headlined over a dozen sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. They were global superstars in a pre-broadcast era. But the very root of their success was in the color of their skin and in the outrageous caricatures they were forced to assume: supposed cannibals, sheep-headed freaks, even 'Ambassadors from Mars.' Back home, their mother never accepted that they were 'gone' and spent 28 years trying to get them back. Through hundreds of interviews and decades of research, Beth Macy expertly explores a central and difficult question: Where were the brothers better off? On the world stage as stars or in poverty at home? Truevine is a compelling narrative rich in historical detail and rife with implications to race relations today"--Publisher description.

'The year was 1899; the place a sweltering tobacco farm in Truevine, Virginia. One day a white man offered candy to George and Willie Muse, two little sons of sharecroppers. Captured into the circus, the brothers would perform for British Royalty and headline shows at Madison Square Garden -- a success rooted in the color of their skin and the outrageous caricatures they were forced to assume. Their mother spent 28 years trying to get them back. Truevine is a compelling narrative rich in historical detail and rife with implications today." -- Back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 503-605).