Margaret Walker Alexander (1915–1998)

This should be America’s go-to novel about the Civil War, not Margaret Mitchell’s problematic ode to the ‘Lost Cause’. It’s a deeply personal work, centered on Margaret Walker’s own maternal grandmother, and meticulously researched. Walker pulls no punches in describing life for slaves in the Antebellum South, the devastation of the Civil War, and the rise of Jim Crow in the aftermath of Reconstruction, but at the same time, is remarkably balanced. Her characters are nuanced and show more believable. If you’re looking for a book that transports you back in time and gets you invested in the struggle of these lives, this is your book. It’s description of history as context is also refreshingly accurate, and this would be a great companion book for anyone studying this period. show less

Historical fiction based on the life of the author’s maternal great grandmother, the daughter of a black slave and a white plantation owner. The protagonist, Vyry, is a strong, black woman with an admirable integrity of spirit in the face of severe adversity. She is a woman of faith doing the best she can for her family, as they suffer through slavery and then through continued racist torment during Reconstruction. It is split into three parts: Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction. I show more found the first and last parts the most impactful. In the middle part, the author assumes the reader is unaware of the specifics of the Civil War and provides a great deal of narrative context, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how much you already know.

In documenting the oral history of her family, supplemented by research, the author has created an engrossing story with an authentic flavor. Walker is adept at describing the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures and environment. The author intersperses lyrics from spirituals and other music of the era, which adds a cultural quality to the story. One segment I found particularly thought-provoking involves a discussion of three adults near the end, where Vyry vocalizes thoughts and dreams of racial harmony in an inspiring manner. Different approaches are expressed by her husband and former husband, including passive acceptance and assertive resistance. First published in 1966, this book withstands the test of time. Recommended to those interested in African American history or what life was like in the American south before, during, and after the Civil War. As may be expected in a novel relating the horrors of slavery, it contains graphic violence and racism.

Memorable quote:

“The true Jubilee will be the day that Earth embraces this universe granting love and freedom to all.”

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Vyry, one of many bastard offspring of the 'Marster', is raised as a slave on a Georgia plantation. Unacknowledged by her father, though her skin is pale and her hair golden, she is broken into a life of waiting on her white half-sister, punishment from her mistress and 'learning her place', until she meets free black man Randall Ware. And then the Civil War brings upheaval, loss, violence, and a promise of the Jubilee and freedom.

"It's a rich man's war, and a poor man's fight" - 'Jubilee', show more written in 1966, is often compared to 'Gone With The Wind', and Vyry measured against southern heroine Scarlett O'Hara, but only the only similarities are in time and place. At half the size of Mitchell's hefty novel, 'Jubilee' tells the same story of the old south resisting change and emancipation with blunt yet vivid honesty. Walker depicts the inhuman treatment of slaves by their owners - young girls taken and used as whores, runaways branded, and constant vicious abuse and murder, under the eye of even the most liberal of masters - but also the fear and ignorance of the plantation owners themselves, holding onto 'tradition' and authority at any cost. She also contrasts the hope and jubilation of the newly freed slaves with the reality and injustice of life after the war, from (un)equal rights to the KKK, which continued for at least another century, and is perhaps most painful to read.

Walker based this novel on the lives of her great-grandparents, and has obviously done the research to support the oral history of the former slaves. If the narrative is rather dry in places, then the history speaks for itself. Vyry is an inspiring heroine, who picks up and carries on after every setback and tragedy, surviving with a quiet competency and iron will that Scarlett O'Hara would envy. show less

A sad but powerful tale of the main protagonist Vyry, the daughter of a white plantation owner and his slave, who dies while giving birth to her 15th child.

Vyry faces the wrath of her father’s wife , as if being enslaved isn’t bad enough she is also cruel to her, primarily because she resembles her white half sister.

The story is based on the author’s great grandmother and is heartbreaking yet Vyry never loses hope that one day she will be free and able to live in peace.