Commentary- African American Book Festival

At the Carver Library and Cultural Center, Austin held its other book festival on Saturday, June 27th: The Third Annual African American Book Festival. Less well-known than that book gathering held in the Capitol each fall, it still attracted some prominent authors. One, Annette Gordon-Reed, spoke of her obsession with the story of Sally Hemings, the now famous slave and mistress of Thomas Jefferson. She described a journey that began with reading Jefferson's biography as a third grader to research on his life as a college history student and the eventual publication of two books. Jefferson scholars dismissed the relationship as just "negro news," she said. In 1997, her first book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, examined the entire historical record. Soon after, DNA evidence confirmed the liaison. Then, using Jefferson's obsessive record keeping, the oral history, and his letters, she reconstructed the Hemings family story in, The Hemingses of Monticello, for which she received the 2008 National Book Award and 2009 Pulitzer Prize. She expressed regret at not listening more carefully as a child to her grandmother's family stories. "Slavery was a part of my life," she said; her grandmother's mother was a slave. Gordon-Reed, now a law professor, wanted to individualize Sally, describe her family context, and allow her to be known as more than just a "slave girl." It was a short hour listening to the story behind the story.

Some of the other authors who spoke were: Carla Harris, Anita Richmond Bunkley, Bernice McFadden and Angela Shelf Medearis. The festival was small and informal, like a church fair. They listed the volunteers by name on the program and sold home-made cookies and lemonade. The last questioner was Marcella Washington, an Austin resident from Gordon-Reed's class at Conroe High School. "I knew your family and your brothers," said Washington.