Daisy Turner's kin : an African American family saga / Jane C. Beck.

Daisy Turner's kin : an African American family saga / Jane C. Beck.

9780252080791 (paperback)
0252080793 (paperback)
9780252039232 (hardcover)
0252039238 (hardcover)
9780252097287 (electronic book)

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2015.

English

295 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

E185.97.T93 B43 2015

306.85/089960730743

"A daughter of freed African American slaves, Daisy Turner became a living repository of history. The family narrative entrusted to her-- "a well-polished artifact, an heirloom that had been carefully preserved"--Began among the Yoruba in West Africa and continued with her own long lifetime. In 1983, folklorist Jane Beck began to interview Turner, then one hundred years old and still relating four generations of oral history. In her book Daisy Turner's Kin, Beck uses Turner's storytelling to build the Turner family saga, using at its foundation the oft-repeated touchstone stories at the heart of their experiences: the abduction into slavery of Turner's African ancestors; Daisy's father learning to read; his return as a soldier to his former plantation to kill the overseer; Daisy's childhood stand against racism; and her family's life in Vermont. Beck weaves in historical research and offers a folklorist's perspective on oral history and the hazards and uses of memory."--Page 4 of cover.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-277) and index.

Folklore studies in a multicultural world.

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