Black Lives Matter
The news this week. The videos (George Floyd being murdered, Christian Cooper being accosted while birding). I just can’t stay silent. I despair over what is happening—*has always been happening*—in this country.
As someone who studies history and writes historical fiction, the past is always happening now. To be more specific: I recently read about the Colonial era Slave Codes. Have you ever read them? I certainly never did in school. They are ugly. They are hard. While I have been working on my current novel, which is set during the Revolutionary War, the blatant hypocrisy of so many of the “Patriots” has been very difficult to navigate and portray—how could they fight for Liberty and Justice and at the same time enslave people?
When I was working on I SHALL BE NEAR TO YOU, I also read the Washington DC Slave Codes—I then went on to mostly sidestep the issue of slavery in the novel (because it was ugly, because it was hard, because the book was too long and some scenes got cut, and– because real Rosetta did not write about slavery in her letters– I gave myself a pass). That is something I wish I had done better at trying to address. I am trying to do better in my current novel. When you get to read it, we will talk at book club about how I did, I hope.
Anyway. I digress.
What I found when I read the Slave Codes was shocking to me. The vast system that we put in place to maintain the system of slavery. The *detailed minutiae* of it. The brutality. But even more: The way it is still with us today. There are specific codes about what police could do to enslaved people—what they could get away with. Anything, really. Murder most certainly. The past, made present.
I am going to link to some texts below—-what I’ve read related to the slave codes, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ brilliant article making the case for reparations, and Annette Gordon-Reed’s book about the Hemmings family. These are all things I have read, mostly while doing research for my novels. They each opened my eyes to the waves of the past that are Right Now washing over this nation. I hope you’ve already read some of what I’m posting. I hope you’ll read the things you haven’t. I hope you’ll share with me the things you’ve read, the things that have helped you think about what keeps happening in this country. I hope you’ll tell me what you found eye-opening, what you found shocking, what parts of the past you see in our present. I hope if we sit with the hard stuff and look at the ugly stuff, we can do better– we can STOP it from continuing to happen, to continue being written in our history.
The Slave Code in Colonial New York by Edwin Olson
New York had more enslaved people than any other northern colony. Revolutionary War era newspapers (The Royal Gazette of New York in particular) are full of ads for human beings. Also— enslaved people were often referred to as servants (gotta hide the ugly truth)— which makes it hard now to tell whether certain people were in fact enslaved, indentured, or free.
The Statutory Law of Slavery and Race in the Thirteen Mainland Colonies of British America by William M. Wiecek
An essay comparing Colonial era Slave Codes (you can read it online free, if you create a JSTOR account. I love JSTOR).
the Washington DC Slave Codes
They were considered lenient.
The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
If I were still teaching, I would teach this. I think it is brilliant and ought to be required reading for every American who didn’t live the experience he details.
The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed
This book taught me so much and made Sally Hemings—the choices she made—so real, so complex, so heartbreaking. If you follow my Author page on Facebook, then you know how I feel about Thomas Jefferson (tl;dr: least favorite Founding Father…), but this book helped me understand his hypocrisy in a far more nuanced way. The book is enormous. I listened to it on audio.
*If you click on the cover image, it will take you to Amazon via an affiliate link. I only did this so that I could use the image. Instead, I urge you to consider buying it from one of the BLACK OWNED BOOK STORES listed here.
Or maybe you can buy it from one of these two WOMEN-OWNED indie bookstores that have been incredibly supportive of me and I SHALL BE NEAR TO YOU:
Books on B
Face In A Book
This interview with The 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones and The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah.
Nikole Hannah-Jones does a beautiful job discussing why it’s so important that we begin tracing the effects of slavery forward to our present.
Seventh Newsletter: An Auspicious Day
I send out a monthly-ish newsletter (more like bi-monthly-ish). This is the the seventh one, sans photos that accompany it when it goes straight to your inbox (apparently copying them from the original newsletter is technologically beyond me). If you’d like to see the whole thing, pictures and all, sign up here!
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An Auspicious Day
I like to think of January 28th as an auspicious day. It’s the day the kid was born, and now, holy cow, he’s five! There we are (bottom left) a couple days after he was born, because I’m too vain to show you the pictures of us in the hospital. Exactly three years later, entirely coincidentally, I Shall Be Near To You hit bookstores. There we are (bottom right) celebrating with party horns (the kid’s idea) at our local Barnes & Noble.
Both times January 28th changed my life, most notably by bringing new people into it. One of the greatest surprises about I Shall Be Near To You making its way out into the world has been all the lovely people I’ve met or re-established connections with because of it, including many of you. All those years I dreamed of the book being at Barnes & Noble, I never dared to imagine that I might make new friends, or share intensely personal conversations, or chat on Twitter, or sit down for coffee with actual readers. It’s a marvel really, how a book can create a community, and I feel incredibly grateful every day (but especially January 28th) for the way you readers have taken Rosetta into your hearts and let me be a part of your lives.
A Little Novel News
Since January 28th feels so auspicious already, and I didn’t quite hit my goal of having a draft of my new novel ready in 2015, I made it my goal to send it to my agent on January 28th. You all are among the very very first to know that Josie is now officially in Agent Dan’s hands. I wish I could say that I feel amazing about this, but in truth I feel nauseous. It happens every time I send something to Agent Dan, because what he thinks of this manuscript is hugely important– crucial, really. I keep telling myself it’s actually a good thing I feel sick every time I think about him reading it, because it means I truly care about these characters and this story. I very much want them to have a life beyond the printed pages in a three-ring binder you see above.
An Invitation to Distraction
Now that Josie is out of my hands, my best cure for nausea is keeping busy in other ways. One thing I’m doing is buckling down on researching my next next novel (some of which is that pile of books pictured above). It’s a relief to know I have something else to work on and I’m excited about making room in my head for some new voices (does that sound too creepy?). I’m also binge-reading a bunch of novels I’ve had on my To-Be-Read pile, because most of the time I seem to only be able to find time to write OR read. I’ve been posting pictures of some of those books over on Instagram and Facebook and reviews over on Goodreads, if you’re curious. (Spoiler: I really loved Vengeance Road
I’m also gearing up for #BookClubFix, a new book club I’ve launched with two of my favorite book bloggers (wonderful friends I’ve made thanks to I Shall), Ellice and Leah. We’ve chosen our first book, The Violinist of Venice: A Story of Vivaldi
Meanwhile, I’ll be crossing my fingers a lot and wondering what 2016 has in store.
Here’s to the New Year, new books, and new ways to connect!
Erin
P.S. As always, if you’d like to reply to this email, it’ll go straight to my inbox. I’d love to hear if you plan to read The Violinist of Venice!
Diverse Historical Reads
In case you missed it over on Paper Riot last month, here’s my guest post on Diverse Historical Reads, in honor of the first #HistoricalFix TwitterChat. You can join the fun for the next one, coming up in July– more details here.
