Some historians have doubts about whether Vesey’s planned slave insurrection truly existed or to what extent, but I have followed the opinion that not only was Vesey more than capable of creating such a plot, he attempted it. I wanted this work to acknowledge the many enslaved and free black Americans who fought, plotted, resisted, and died for the sake of freedom. Reading about the protest and escapes of various actual female slaves helped me to shape the characters and stories of Charlotte and Handful.
The story quilt in the novel was inspired by the magnificent quilts of Harriet Powers, an enslaved woman from Georgia who used African appliqué technique to tell stories about biblical events and historical legends. Her two surviving quilts are archived at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. I made a pilgrimage to Washington to see Powers’ quilt, and after viewing it, it seemed plausible that enslaved women, forbidden to read and write, could have devised subversive ways to voice themselves, to keep their memories alive, and to preserve the heritage of their African traditions. I envisioned Charlotte using cloth and needle as others use paper and pen, creating a visual memoir, attempting to set down the events of her life in a single quilt. One of the most fascinating parts of my research had to be the hours I spent reading about slave quilts and the symbols and imagery in African textiles, which introduced me to the notion of black triangles representing blackbird wings.
If you’re inclined to read further about the historical content in the novel or about Harriet Powers’ quilts, you might want to explore this sampling of very readable books:
The Grimké Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women’s Rights and Abolition, by Gerda Lerner.
The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimké, by Gerda Lerner.
Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimké Family’s Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders, by Mark Perry.
The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston, by Maurie D. McInnis.
Denmark Vesey: The Buried Story of America’s Largest Slave Rebellion and the Man Who Led It, by David Robertson.
Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery, by Charles Johnson, Patricia Smith, and the WGBH Series Research Team.
To Be a Slave, by Julius Lester, with illustrations by Tom Feelings (Newberry Honor book).
Stitching Stars: The Story Quilts of Harriet Powers, by Mary Lyons (ALA Notable Book for Children).
Signs & Symbols: African Images in African American Quilts, by Maude Southwell Wahlman.
In writing The Invention of Wings, I was inspired by the words of Professor Julius Lester, which I kept propped on my desk: “History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another’s pain in the heart our own.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My deepest thanks to . . .
Ann Kidd Taylor, an exceptionally gifted writer and author, who read and reread this manuscript in progress, offering me invaluable comments and endless believing.
Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, my amazing agent and dear friend.
My terrific editor, Paul Slovak, and Clare Ferraro, and the extraordinary team at Viking for their boundless support.
Valerie Perry, Aiken-Rhett House museum manager at Historic Charleston Foundation, who gave so generously of her time and efforts and offered tremendous help with my research.
Carter Hudgens, director of preservation and education at Drayton Hall in Charleston, for his time and insights into the life and history of enslaved people.
The following institutions, which, along with Historic Charleston Foundation and Drayton Hall, served as resources: the Charleston Museum, the Charleston Library Society, the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library and the Avery Research Center, the Charleston County Public Library, the South Caroliniana Library, the Aiken-Rhett House Museum, the Nathaniel Russell House Museum, the Charles Pinckney House, the Old Slave Mart, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Lowcountry Africana, Middleton Place, and Boone Hall Plantation.
Pierce, Herns, Sloan & Wilson, LLC of Charleston, which allowed me to explore to my heart’s content the historic house that once belonged to the Grimké family (named the Blake House for its original owner).
Jacqueline Coleburn, rare book cataloger at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., for her enormous assistance in providing me with a treasure trove of letters, newspapers, Anti-Slavery Convention proceedings, and other documents related to Sarah and Angelina Grimké and early-nineteenth-century history.
Doris Bowman, associate curator and specialist, Textile Collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., for welcoming me into the Smithsonian archives to view Harriet Powers’ Bible Quilt and for supplying me with a wealth of information about it.
The New-York Historical Society for making available documents related to the Grimké sisters and Denmark Vesey, including official reports of Vesey’s insurrection and trial.
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, which awed and educated me with its exhibits and interactive experiences on slavery and abolition.
Marilee Birchfield, librarian at the University of South Carolina, for aid with research questions.
Robert Kidd and Kellie Bayuzick Kidd for being willing and able research assistants.
Scott Taylor for providing patient and expert technical help, especially the week my computer crashed.
There were many primary sources, books, essays, and articles about the Grimkés, Denmark Vesey, slavery, abolition, quilts and African textiles, and early-nineteenth-century history that became the bedrock of my research, but I would like to especially mention my indebtedness to Dr. Gerda Lerner, whose scholarship and writings about the Grimké sisters greatly influenced me, particularly her biography The Grimké Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women’s Rights and Abolition. I’m also indebted to the research and writing of Mark Perry in his book Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimké Family’s Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders; H. Catherine Birney in The Grimké Sisters; David Robertson in Denmark Vesey: The Buried Story of America’s Largest Slave Rebellion and the Man Who Led It; and Maurie D. McInnis in The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston. I want to acknowledge an American black folktale, from which I drew inspiration, about people in Africa being able to fly and then losing their wings when captured into slavery. The story is beautifully told by Virginia Hamilton and magnificently illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon in the ALA Notable Children’s Book The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales.
I’m immensely grateful to the wonderful group of friends who listened to me recount the pull, challenges, and joys of writing this novel, and who never ceased to encourage me: Terry Helwig, Trisha Sinnott, Curly Clark, Carolyn Rivers, Susan Hull Walker, and Molly Lehman. I’m grateful, too, for Jim and Mandy Helwig, who along with Terry have long been part of my extended family.
I was sustained every single day by the love and support of family: my parents Leah and Ridley Monk; my son Bob Kidd and his wife, Kellie; my daughter Ann Kidd Taylor and her husband, Scott; my grandchildren Roxie, Ben, and Max; and my husband, Sandy, who has journeyed with me since college and whose bravery during the past year both inspired and deepened me. No words can ever express my gratitude for each of them.
Sue Monk Kidd, The Invention of Wings
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