Daisy Turner's kin
Subtitle: an African American family saga
By: Jane C. Beck
Series: Folklore studies in a multicultural world; Folklore studies in a multicultural world
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 295
ISBN-13: 9780252039232; 9780252080791
Subjects: Social conditions; African American families; African Americans; Family; Biography
Description: "A daughter of freed African American slaves, Daisy Turner became a living repository of history. The family narrative entrusted to her--'a well-polished artifact, an heirloom that had been carefully preserved'--began among the Yoruba in West Africa and continued with her own long lifetime. In 1983, folklorist Jane Beck began to interview Turner, then one hundred years old and still relating four generations of oral history. In her book Daisy Turner's Kin, Beck uses Turner's storytelling to build the Turner family saga, using as its foundation the oft-repeated touchstone stories at the heart of their experiences: the abduction into slavery of Turner's African ancestors; Daisy's father learning to read; his return as a soldier to his former plantation to kill the overseer; Daisy's childhood stand against racism; and her family's life in Vermont. Beck weaves in historical research and offers a folklorist's perspective on oral history and the hazards and uses of memory."--Page 4 of cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-277) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The Turner narrative and memory; title: Meeting Daisy; title: African roots; title: Jack Gouldin and Robert Berkeley; title: Plantation life; title: Civil War; title: Postwar; title: Vermont; title: Journey's end; title: Daisy's last years; title: Appendix. Turner family genealogical chart.