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Race relations lessons learned later in life

Knowledge is ever flowing

By Cheryl E PrestonPublished 4 years ago 6 min read
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Jubilee

Long before Alex Haley wrote “Roots” and later “Queen,” author Margaret Walker produces a little known gem titled “Jubilee” in 1966. I found this rare treasure in a box of discontinued paper back books at a local library in 2015. I paid one dime for this published work that has changed my life and challenged what I thought I knew about American slavery. It has given me a different perspective and helped me realize there were other victims besides the enslaved Africans. I have read this book at least 25 to 30 times from cover to cover because it speaks to me and it’s message is relevant today.

“Jubilee” is the story of the author’s grandmother Elvyra who was known as Vyry. The master of the plantation was James Dutton and according to the book he cheated often on his wife with his female slaves and produced babies. One of them was Vury’s mother who died in childbirth. When the child was born she was literally whit in e and the slaves knew immediately that the “marster” was her father. This little girl did not look biracial but totally white. She was quickly whisked away to another plantation her master owned so that his wife would not know about her. The man who was married to Vyry’s mother was named Jake. He sat helpless looking at the Snow White child, knowing that the master had been with his wife. As slaves, they both were powerless to do anything about it.

When Vyry was five years old she was brought back to the plantation to be a maid to the “marsters” daughter Lilian. The mistress hated Vyry on sight because the little slave girl looked more like her husband than her own daughter. When visitors cane they often thought the two children were twins and the mistress would scream that Vyry was “nigra”and looked nothing like her daughter. If this sounds familiar it’s because the same events happened in Alex Haley’s “ Queen” so it’s obvious this type of situation was common during the Antebellum days. Like Queen, Vyry struggles to understand why, if she looked white was she considered as colored. She was just as much her father’s daughter as Lilian but her name was in the slave registery and the mistress never met her forget her place. She was a servant to her own sister and as a child did not understand why.

Margaret Walker

The other slaves were leery of Elvira because she was light and worked in the big house. For the rest of her life she was mistaken as white then scorned when it was revealed that she was biracial. Reading this book opened my eyes to the origins of many issues we have today. I’ve been made aware how one person’s misdeeds can affect an entire generation hundreds of years later. There is animosity within the African American community regarding skin tone with both light and dark black people dealing with prejudice from those who look differently. There is animosity regard hair texture and biracial children really catch the heat. Those who look white, like Vyry are often subjected to racist remarks by Caucasian’s who don’t know they are part black.

James Dutton, like Thomas Jefferson and other slave owners cheated on their wives and sired children that were treated like property. Black husbands and boyfriends had to endure the rape of their wives or girlfriends and live with shame when a white looking child was born. The mistress also had to continue on as though nothing was wrong although her heart was breaking at her husband’s betrayal, These complexities indicate that everything was not as simple as black and white, no pun intended. When Vyry was older she tried to run away away with her two children to meet with her husband who wax a free man. She was caught and her own father stood by while she was whipped until she passed out.

Aunt Jemima

Margaret Walker’s grandmother shared these stories with her and they are now in print. I highly recommend purchasing a copy of Jubilee because it gives insight into to the minds and motives of all who were involved with slavery. I read “Roots” and “Queen” and saw the television miniseries, in the 1970’s. I’ve watched over televised programs about slavery. Reading Margaret Walker’s story later in life has given me another layer to early American history. She captured the emotions of everyone involved and even sheds light on a current day issue. It’s been announced that Aunt Jemimah pancakes will be retired because the image is considered as racist. In “ Jubilee” there are women who are described in a manner that is similar to Aunt Jemimah whose names were Mammy Sukie, Granny Ticie and Aunt Sally.

What now are considered as offensive stereotypes were terms of endearment that slaves used for each other. It may be true that the slave owners bestowed these names on black women in that day but other slaves used those names in love, based on this book. Each of these three women, named aunt, manny, and granny proved to be mother figures to Vyry after her own mother died. I found it intriguing that master could hardly look at Vyry because he knew she was his. Even so he continued to rule with an iron hand and maintain his authority. The mistress became cranky and mistreated the girl until the day she died. Vyry suffers an identity crisis and even her husband thought she was upitty because she worked in the house and not the field. Her step father Jake faded from the story so he obviously could not bring himself to communicate with his wife’s daughter by the master.

As a man Jake must have felt truly emasculated being unable to stop another man from taking his wife. The Master and others like him cared not about hurting their wives or taking advantage of young slave girls. The male slaves were seen as property and the plantation owners did not see their actions as abusing another man’s wife. The people of that day, based on “ Jubilee” lives lives that were like a soap opera or an episode of The Jerry Springer Show. Combined with other takes of that period, the reality seems to be that life was not a fairy tale for anyone except the men who owned the plantations, their slaves and their wives.

No one can deny the horrors of American slavery, but in reading Margaret Walker’s book it becomes clear that there were other issues besides Africans being mistreated. I am not downplaying the injustices just pointing out that along the way humans were living their separate lives in worlds that collided yet were vastly different. “ Jubilee” emphasizes the power of the white man over his slaves, male and females as well as his wife. I learned through reading this work how the existence of the Vyry’s of the world are proof of how the races are intertwined. All of us today are the sum total of the John Duttons and the slaves they had children with. Even if your lineage is completely black or white we are all still affected by the past in this nation and are more connected than we realize.

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About the Creator

Cheryl E Preston

Cheryl is a widow who enjoys writing about current events, soap spoilers and baby boomer nostalgia. Tips are greatly appreciated.

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