The Sweeter the Juice: A Family Memoir in Black and White

This is a very well-written memoir (subtitled "A Family Memoir in Black and White") about a woman's search for the missing half of her mother's family---the half that made the decision to "pass" as white and left her "too dark" mother behind as a child. It explores the question of defining race, and what our roots really mean, in the context of a thoroughly fascinating story with a satisfying and hopeful outcome. Interesting counterpoint to the fictional tragedies of Faulkner's Joe Christmas and Charles Bon.
Reviewed in November, 2007

Meticulously researched (with an excellent bibliography), intricate (the family tree is, at times, necessary to disentangle the relationships) and above all passionate, this book is easy to read. Its passion sometimes becomes anger and that conveys its own important message about the African-American experience. I found it both sad and ironic however that within the space of a few pages, Haizlip first affirms her belief in her father's story of an encounter with a ghost and then expresses her disbelief in a family tradition that a helpful (white) supervisor advised her uncle that he should move to another city and pass as white, because he'd never advance beyond the position of janitor while living as a coloured person. The kindness of show more a concerned white individual is more incredible than supernatural visitations. This is also something that white Americans need to know. Haizlip asks herself if she is also a racist, pondering her compulsion to enforce a sort of Jim Crow among her family pictures, with the white family separated from the black relatives. Speaking as a person who doesn't sort the family photos by skin colour, I'd say she probably is. But this book left me wondering where my own unsuspected racism may be found. show less

I loved this book for the way it calmly revealed an African American family's dealing with the overwhelming racism of American society. The author's mother had been abandoned by her family in 1916 because she wasn't white enough to "pass" with the rest of the family. Hizlip tracks down the relatives, one by one, and provides pictures that vividly illustrate her research. Long before Black Power or African heritage pride took their place in the United States, Haizlip's family's solution was a common one, and the history she gives is fascinating.
(Review by Nan, Bell, Librarian, Ithaca High School)

Absolutely one of my most favorite books of all time. It is fascinating and will inspire anyone to search their roots, no matter what their racial heritage is. In my opinion, it should be one of the "required reading" books in every high school.

I first read this book back in 1994 and am very surprised to see it is in so few of Library Thing members' personal libraries. It sheds a sharp light on many aspects of this nation's racial history and on family relationships. It is well worth a read.

NA