The songs of web dubois6/11/2023 ![]() One of her first memories is of her father being sold down the river to Mississippi or where ever, sold deeper south. And he was a little bitty boy-a toddler-and my great-grandmother Mandy was a teenager when freedom came. My grandmother’s father was born in slavery. Even though I went to primarily African American schools up until junior high school, we didn’t get a lot of that in school. Honorée Fanonne Jeffers: When I first learned about slavery, I didn’t learn about it in a history book. ![]() Later, when Ailey attends university, Du Bois serves as a guide leading her to discover her life’s calling and forge a path distinct from that of her parents and sisters.ĭonna Hemans: Where does your fascination with history come from? Du Bois and gifts her a first edition of The Souls of Black Folk. ![]() Ailey’s Uncle Root introduces her to the work of W.E.B. As Ailey grows older, the annual pilgrimage and her relationship with her elders take on a different meaning. The coming of age novel follows Ailey through her teenage and college years. ![]() When we first meet Ailey, she is a preschooler, traveling with her mother and sisters to spend the summer months in Chicasetta. ![]() Given the period, the novel touches on large issues-slavery, the removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands, colorism, race relations-but for Jeffers, the heart of the novel is the growth of the messy, chubby, loud, and imperfect Ailey. ![]()
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