Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-291) and index.
Contents:
Confessions of a Weary Integrationist -- The African -- Transcription of Dublin Hunter's Manumission Document -- Mr. Washington Comes to Columbia -- Finding Papa -- "Tell Them We Are Rising" -- Papa Returns to Columbia -- The Light -- Martha's Trials -- "For Editor of the A. M. E. Church Review" -- Change and the Great War -- Patriotism at Home -- Mama Comes into Her Own -- "We Are as Well as Common" -- The Editor and the Bishop, 1917-25 -- Beginnings and Departures -- Papa Returns to Allen -- Tap's Almost Success -- Mills -- Fiftieth Anniversary and Nearing the End -- Mills in Haiti -- Mills Returns to America -- Death and Funerals -- And Their Children after Them -- They, Too, Sang America.
Summary:
"A writer in search of his roots discovers stories of African American struggle, sacrifice, and achievement. In The Garretts of Columbia, author David Nicholson tells a multigenerational story of Black hope and resilience. Carefully researched and beautifully written, The Garretts of Columbia engages readers with stories of a family whose members believed in the possibility of America. Nicholson relates the sacrifices, defeats, and affirming victories of a cohort of stalwart men and women who embraced education, fought for their country, and asserted their dignity in the face of a society that denied their humanity and discounted their abilities. The letters of Anna Maria 'Mama' Threewitts Garrett, along with other archival sources and family stories passed down through generations, provided the framework that allowed Nicholson to trace his family's deep history, and with it a story about Black life in segregated Columbia, SC, from the years after the Civil War to World War II"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.