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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May 2023
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