The force of a feather
Subtitle: the search for a lost story of slavery and freedom
By: DeEtta Demaratus.
Publisher: University of Utah Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Salt Lake City
Language: eng
Number of pages: 235
Subjects: Mason, Biddy, 1818-1891.; Mason, Biddy, 1818-1891 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Habeas corpus -- California -- Los Angeles County.; Women slaves -- United States -- Biography.; Slaves -- United States -- Biography.; Freedmen -- United States -- Biography.; African American women -- Biography.; Women philanthropists -- California -- Los Angeles County -- Biography.
Genres: Biography.
Description: "In the late 1980s, author DeEtta Demaratus stumbled across a story that wouldn't leave her alone. She had been intending to write an article about Biddy Mason, a former slave who, at the time of her death in 1891, had become a well-known philanthropist and one of the wealthiest African American women in California.

But at an exhibit honoring Biddy, Demaratus inexplicably knew that the documented history about Biddy was inaccurate and should be corrected. "I came to believe, " she says, "that an exchange was made between me and the past, that an invitation was extended." The Force of a Feather is the result of that invitation.".

"Woven through the historical narrative of Biddy and Hannah and the dramatic account of the trial itself is the compelling chronicle of Demaratus's personal journey to confront issues of race and prejudice in her own history. Testifying to the ineffable connections we share as human beings, The Force of a Feather is not only the history of a woman's quest for dignity, but the story of a woman's search for truth - in the historical record and in herself."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-235).
Table of contents: title: The dream; title: White woman running; title: The writ; title: Meeting Mississippi; title: The verdict; title: Getting to the right state; title: The promise; title: Five codas; title: The letter.