Jubilee

Margaret Walker, I found out some years ago, was my Great Grandmother’s first cousin. Just to know that my lineage accomplished something so great in the worst possible circumstances, makes me feel overwhelmingly humble and grateful🤲🏽❤️

An engaging read that follows a woman from illegitimate slave to freed woman and the horrors she overcomes through her journey. Each chapter includes lyrics from Black spiritual songs.

I first read Jubilee many, many years ago. I have read it again several times since then. For me, it ranks with To Kill a Mockingbird. Powerful, painful, ànd inspirational. The power and strength of the main character is just amazing. And to know it is based on fact makes it that much more impactful. A treasure.

I was 13 years old when I read *Jubilee* for the first time. I found it in the library and spent a rainy Saturday devouring the story. After the last page was turned, I ran immediately to my grandmother (who was born in 1906, and therefore an expert in all things old) and asked her how any of this could possibly be true. I knew about slavery from history books, but slave masters having children with slaves! What followed was an eye-opening conversation about what our history REALLY was - and who the people of the south really were. I never forgot the experience, and I never forgot the book. Now, I am 18 years older, and once again, on a rainy Saturday, I picked up a copy of *Jubillee* (this time from Square Books in Oxford) and read the whole book again. The story was still as powerful, and I understood so much more than I could back then. I understood the mastery of Walker's writing, the power of her story, and the incredible fairness and depth with which Walker crafted her novel. So many voices of the South speak to us . . . The chief voice is of course Vyry's - it's her story. She is the voice of forgiveness, compassion, fairness, and spirituality that reaches to so many. She is also a voice that triumphs over the horrible suffering and injustice of the pre-Civil War South. She endures Emancipation and Reconstruction - not quite the panacea of those history books that led me astray so young - and ultimately triumphs over hate in all its forms. Her words concerning misunderstanding and reconciliation in the closing 4 chapters of the novel are some of the most powerful words in literature. She is a heroine among heroines - a beautiful example of what it means for humanity to triumph over prejudice and adversity. Alone, it would be a great tale, but the voices don't stop with Vyry alone . . . Each of the characters speaks for a class of those who grew up in the South: the angry poor-whites (Grimes, the people who burn Vyry and Innis out of their home), the angry black men (Randall Ware, Jim to an extent), the privileged and cruel white upper class (Big Missy Salina), those among the white upper class who felt the injustice and yet were too cowardly to enact change (Marster Dutton and Miss Lillian), the freedom fighters that worked diligently to bring freedom (Brother Zeke), those who suffered before they saw the promised land (Mammy Sukey, Aunt Sally), and those who wanted to turn the labor that had been stolen for so long into proof of their worth (Innis Brown). Not only are all these voices present, but they are treated with equal sympathy and truth. Even the most evil of characters, like Grimes, is presented with compassion. Even the most heroic of characters, like Randall Ware, is portrayed with human frailties in tact. This is what makes *Jubilee* not just another slave novel, but a novel that really makes history alive. I am a descendant of the poor white class. What *Jubilee* proved to me as a child was simple: I s

I must admit that originally I chose this book because it was the only book on the reading list that I could find at the time. While I read, I came to appreciate the book for its deeper meanings and the lingering images of slave life found in the novel. This narrative tells the true story of the black slaves before, during, and after the Civil War; and the struggles they had to overcome. This novel details the human triumph over the despairs of slavery and dispels the stereotype of the black slave. This in depth story proves the ability of the slaves to have a full range of emotions, not just hatred. For Vyry, the creation of new life offers her salvation. She is blessed with children, and when she comes to a new town she is offered a home because of her skills as a midwife. While white skin is seen as a symbol of civilization, to Vyry it is only a point of further pain under the hand of Big Missy (Salina) who sees it as her duty to put Vyry in her place. In each new home, Vyry feels a sense of renewed hope offered to her by the color of her skin and the sense of freedom that comes with being in a new place. Even when that hope is consumed by the flames of the KKK, she is able to find release by turning to God. Omens at the opening of the novel further emphasize the brutalities of the slave owners and the vagaries of nature because of the twists of fate that allow hatred and death to continue. Walker uses these vivid images to convey the triumph of the human spirit and the true glory of God through man.

I have to disagree with Maurena Logan. The book, Jubliee, is not just for black history buffs. Jubilee is not at all poorly written, in fact it is written strongly. The writer, Margaret Walker describes Vyry's life very vividly from the time her mother died up to the time that Vyry is a mother. Vyry had three children, Minna, Jim, and an unborn child. This book describes all the hardships, trials, and tribulations that Vyry must face being a slave. After Vyry lost her mother at such a young age her Aunt Sally had to care for her. This was okay until when Vyry was about nine, her Aunt Sally was sold and Vyry was left to care for herself. Jubilee tells the story of a young mulatto slave. Vyry, the main character, is born to a slave and her master. Vyry could pass to be white. In fact, when she was older she fit in just fine with white people. She had no trouble selling goods when her family needed money to survive. Her master's wife, Missy Salina is very hateful to her. Missy Salina treats her worse than you would treat a dog. She despises her and would love to rid herself of the tack Vyry has become to her. Not only is Vyry physically abused but also she emotionally abuses her. Through this all Vyry still found it within herself to love and forgive. Brother Zeke would talk of having faith in God and his promises to send a new Moses to free them as he did the Israelites when she was a little girl. Vyry always dreamed of being a free black woman ever since she met Randall Ware, a free black man. Vyry had two children for him. The first child, Jim, looked nothing like her but more like his father. Minna, the second child looked like her, she was pale and had fine brown hair like her mother's. The war gets into this picture when the Emancipation Proclamation is declared. Eventually Vyry was a free woman. Yes, this book does talk about history and the war, but it also brings you into the life of Vyry. It lets you feel her pain and suffering. Walker's style is very clearly organized and she is very outspoken. She draws attention to blacks suffering from hatred and rage. People don't realize that everyone is a victim of it.

Jubilee is a story that details the triumph of the human spirit in all its many facets: love, hate, fear, forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, pride. All these exist in the character of Vyry, a slave on a Georgia plantation, the never recognized daughter of the plantation's master. Stories of slavery, the Civil War, and its aftermath are often presented as glowing tales of chivalry and glory for those bygone days, but in Vyry's story, the glory comes only from faith in God and his promises to send a new Moses to free them as he did the Israelites. Imagine the other side: picture life from a slave's point of view and glory becomes hardship, backbreaking work, separation of families, vicious beatings and no hope of freedom. Vyry's story is true, retold by her great granddaughter in all its poignant detail as history unfolds and her life changes. Her strength and compassion for all mankind plus her faith in God and His moral commandments places Vyry with all great heroines. This is a thought provoking and heartbreaking story but one that triumphs in the end and leaves the reader with a sense of regret for past injustice and inhumanity. In no uncertain terms, this book makes it clear that there could be no excuse for slavery despite its ancient history and justification.