Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Martin, Ruth R. (1930-....)
Martin, Vivian B. (1959-....)
Titre(s) : Beatrice's Ledger [Texte imprimé] : coming of age in the Jim Crow South / Ruth R. Martin with Vivian B. Martin
Publication : Columbia (S. C.) : University of South Carolina Press, copyright [2022]
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (xiii, 134 pages) : illustrations ; 24 cm
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-131) and index
"Beatrice's Ledger is a story about family, memory, and the power of homeplace. (Reminds
me of Mildred Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - 1976 / Logan Family Saga series
and Mamie Garvin Fields, Lemon Swamp and Other Places: A Carolina Memoir - Free Press,
1983). Ruth Martin grew up in Smoaks, South Carolina, a small town in Colleton County.
It was once the land of plantations, slavery, and cotton. By the time Ruth Martin
was born in 1930 many of the plantations were gone and slavery had ended, but the
cotton remained. Her family made a living working the land as sharecroppers. Her father
supplemented the family income working as a supervisor at a local grist and sawmill.
They worked hard, but did not own the land and Martin offers vivid descriptions of
the sometimes perilous existence of a Black family living in the Jim Crow South. But
there was joy as well as hardship and readers will be drawn into the story of life
in Smoaks. Martin brings to life the place and its citizens with colorful prose and
careful reconstruction. In addition to her own memory, Martin conducted numerous interviews
and tracked down deeds and land records to confirm her recollections. Among the documents
that she relies upon is a ledger that her mother, Beatrice, kept and that survives
as a family heirloom. Well-worn and with some pages missing -- having been torn out
and repurposed as grocery lists and scrap paper through the years -- the ledger serves
as a starting and ending point to the book. It recounts the triumphs and travails
of one Black family in the rural twentieth century South. Written in a lively style,
Beatrice's Ledger is reminiscent of the best of southern memoir, combining history,
storytelling, and family folklore to tell a compelling narrative of growing up as
a Black girl in the Jim Crow South. Martin, a trained social worker and skilled practitioner
of oral history, gathers stories from many former residents of Smoaks, both white
and Black, in order to inform her narrative. The book offers a window into the day-to-day
lives of African Americans living in the early twentieth-century South. Infused with
history, humor, and a southerner's ability to tell a good story, readers of all types
will find something to enjoy about this first-hand account" ; "Ruth remembers the
day the sheriff pulled up in front of her family's home with a white neighbor claiming
Ruth's father owed her recently deceased husband money. It was 1940 in Jim Crow South
Carolina, and even at the age of 10, Ruth knew a Black person's word wasn't trusted.
But her father remained calm as he waited on her mother's return from the house. She
had retrieved a gray book, which she opened and handed to the sheriff. Satisfied by
what he saw, the sheriff and the woman left. Ruth didn't know what was in that book,
but she knew it was important.In Beatrice's Ledger, Ruth R. Martin brings to life
the stories behind her mother's entries in that well-worn ledger, detailing her family's
daily struggle to survive. Enriched by public records and interviews with people still
living in Smoaks, South Carolina, Martin weaves history, humor, and poignant reflection
into a compelling narrative about the power of family and the place we call home"
Sujet(s) : Martin, Ruth R. (1930-....) -- Famille
Noirs américains -- Conditions sociales -- Caroline du Sud (États-Unis) -- 20e siècle
Métayage -- Caroline du Sud (États-Unis) -- 20e siècle
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9781643363158. - ISBN 1643363158. - ISBN 9781643363165 (erroné)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb470085311
Notice n° :
FRBNF47008531
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
Table des matières : Beatrice's Ledger ; Smoaks ; Mama at the Pole House ; Joe Robinson's Land ; Meeting
the Drains ; School Days ; Lovely Hill ; The Root Doctor ; Aunt Anna ; Memory
of a Fire ; The Shed ; Up and down the Road ; The German POW Occupation ; Sex
and the Country ; Getting Beyond Ninth Grade ; High School Graduate ; Tuskegee
; "The One" ; Finding Miss Barnes ; The (Possibly) Tragic Fate of Mr. Six-Toe ;
"Something Good and Something Right" ; "Never to Come Up Anymore."
