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Daisy Turner's Kin

An African American Family Saga
  • ISBN-13: 9780252080791
  • Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
    Imprint: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
  • By Jane C. Beck
  • Price: AUD $64.99
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 14/08/2015
  • Format: Paperback 312 pages Weight: 0g
  • Categories: History of the Americas [HBJK]
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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 century and more of life. In 1983, folklorist Jane Beck began a series of interviews with Turner, then one hundred years old and still relating four generations of oral history. 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 Alec Turner learning to read; his return as a soldier to his former plantation to kill his former overseer; and Daisy's childhood stand against racism. Other stories re-create enslavement and her father's life in Vermont--in short, the range of life events large and small, transmitted by means so alive as to include voice inflections. Beck, at the same time, weaves in historical research and offers a folklorist's perspective on oral history and the hazards--and uses--of memory.
"If you are interested in learning how oral history can lead to discovery and help chronicle a family legacy, then you will find Daisy Turner's Kin: An African American Family Saga a necessary guidebook."--Oral History Review


"Jane Beck has done a masterful job in illustrating how long-term in-depth interviews, wide-ranging and meticulous research, and a wonderful writing style can produce, at once, a highly readable and deeply informative book."--Journal of American Folklore
 
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