Rest for the weary: the stories behind two black havens and a study on literary women offer enrichment

Black Issues Book Review, July-August, 2005

* Finding Martha's Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island by Jill Nelson, Doubleday, May 2005, $27.50, ISBN 0-385-50566-3

Finding Martha's Vineyard is a must-read for those who want to understand the magic, power and draw of that 100-square-mile island off the coast of Massachusetts.

Nelson, a best-selling author (Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience, Penguin, July 1994; Straight, No Chaser, Penguin, November 1999; Sexual Healing, Agate, June 2003), distills the essence of Oak Bluffs, a community that has long been a haven for generations of black families who have made the pilgrimage to the summertime resort for the "clean oceans, pristine beaches, rolling hills and bluffs, ponds and cool breezes."

As a five-decade summer visitor and part-time resident, Nelson understands firsthand the lure of Oak Bluffs and its surrounding communities. Her book traces the island's history, first as the home of the Wampanoag Indians, then a haven for free slaves, indentured servants and skilled laborers, to a Methodist revival camp, the a middle-class vacation resort and homestead of the wealthy today.

In addition to the collection of personal memories by residents such as lawyer and political insider Vernon Jordan, writer Bebe Moore Campbell and author Tonya Lee, Nelson has sprinkled favorite recipes and intimate photos along with the details of the historical and social significance of Oak Bluffs.

But Finding Martha's Vineyard is best when Nelson shares her family story, which she does at the beginning of nearly every chapter. It's on Martha's Vineyard, we find, that she learned to kiss, swim, become a writer, raise her daughter and keep her mother's spirit alive even after she passes on.

--Reviewed by Ingrid Sturgis Ingrid Sturgis is editor of Essence.com and the editor of Aunties: Thirty-Five Writers Celebrate Their Other Mother (Ballantine Books, May 2004).

Black Then: Blacks and Montreal 1780s-1880s by Frank Mackey, McGill-Queens University Press, August 2004 $19.95, ISBN 0-773-52736-2

Most of us would struggle to conjure up the history of blacks in Canada, let alone the lives of blacks in Montreal between 1780s and 1880s. And even when the history of blacks in Canada is told, it often focuses disproportionately on the lives of blacks in Ontario, particularly those who escaped American slavery to arrive in Canaan Land by way of the Underground Railroad. Likewise, contemporary black Canadian history, one that usually centers on the 80-plus years of black immigration from the Caribbean and Africa, tends to emphasize how they came looking for better opportunities.

It is no wonder then that black life north of the 59th parallel often seems to be freedom bound. But what is sometimes lost in this storytelling is Canada's complex history of racism, slavery, anti-black immigration and rigid deportation laws. But Canadian researchers, scholars and writers alike have been working for years to address this by publishing a range of books that seek to demythologize this history. Frank Mackey's Black Then is one such book.

Though not intended as a scholarly work, Black Then is rich with information on black life in Montreal that few--on either side of the border--ever knew existed. It is a creative and often engaging blend of historical fiction that draws on exhaustive archival research to present 30 narratives about what life in Montreal may have been like. Although Mackey is guided by what the documentary record says of the people he writes about, it is clear that he takes some sweeping liberties with dialogue in much the same vein as Jewell Parker Rhodes in Douglass's Women (Atria, October 2002). What stands out in Black Then is the diversity of black society back then, as the characters range from those who were successful entrepreneurs integrated into mainstream society to those who were barely able to secure their freedom. The best of Mackey's narratives present characters who have been challenged and who have triumphed, as this resonates well with the contemporary reality.

It is the writing style, though, that serves as both strength and weakness in this book. Though Black Then is written for a more general audience, the creative prose style can get a little tedious, particularly at the moments where it feels as though the author intends for the audience to be as marveled by this history as he is. Nonetheless, Black Then is an extremely valuable contribution to the ever-growing list of resources on black Canadian history, particularly because it provides historically relevant glimpses into complexity of black life beyond the Underground Railroad.

--Reviewed by Dara N. Byrne, Ph.D. A Canadian, Dara N. Byrne is a professor at John Jay College (CUNY) in New York City.

* Worrying the Line: Black Women Writers, Lineage and Literary Tradition by Cheryl A. Wall, University of North Carolina Press, February 2005 $19.95, ISBN 0-807-85586-3

The latest release in the Gender and American Culture series from the UNC Press is a lucid map of black women's late-20th century literary writing deftly rendered by Wall, a Rutgers University English professor. This is a work of literary criticism I would recommend to nonacademic readers--and reading groups--who want to know more about how our most gifted African American women narrative artists work their magic to enhance readers' appreciation of the miracle of African American families, our cultural wealth and dramatic historical legacy.