Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family [Hardcover]

Ronne Hartfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

In her prologue to Another Way Home, Ronne Hartfield notes the dearth of stories about African Americans who have occupied the area of mixed race with ease and harmony for generations. Her moving family history is filled with such stories, told in beautifully crafted and unsentimental prose. Spanning most of the twentieth century, Hartfield's book celebrates the special occasion of being born and reared in a household where miscegenation was the rule rather than the exception—where being a woman of mixed race could be a fundamental source of strength, vitality, and courage.

Hartfield begins with the early life of her mother, Day Shepherd. Born to a wealthy British plantation owner and the mixed-race daughter of a former slave, Day negotiates the complicated circumstances of plantation life in the border country of Louisiana and Mississippi and, as she enters womanhood, the quadroon and octoroon societies of New Orleans. Equally a tale of the Great Migration, Another Way Home traces Day's journey to Bronzeville, the epicenter of black Chicago during the first half of the twentieth century. Here, through the eyes of Day and, ultimately, her daughter, we witness the bustling city streets and vibrant middle-class culture of this iconic black neighborhood. We also relive crucial moments in African American history as they are experienced by the author's family and others in Chicago's South Side black community, from the race riots of 1919 and the Great Depression to the murder of Emmett Till and the dawn of the civil rights movement.

Throughout her book, Hartfield portrays mixed-race Americans navigating the challenges of their lives with resilience and grace, making Another Way Home an intimate and compelling encounter with one family's response to our racially charged culture.

(20041001)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hartfield's mother, Day Shepherd, was part of a line of mixed-race individuals, many of whom, like herself, could have passed for white. Instead of leading the lives of tragic mulattoes who were unable to fit into either white or black worlds, or opting to pass for white and giving up their family heritage, her mother's family managed to live happily, even within the severe limitations of racial restrictions of the South, in Mississippi and Louisiana, and later in the North in Chicago. Hartfield draws on her mother's recollections and genealogical research to trace the family from their roots on a plantation, where the white master fathered children with his slave and offered them as much protection as he could under the circumstances, including shielding them from the disapproving eyes of his mother, to a vibrant family of middle-class comfort and accomplishments. This is a warm and touching memoir of a close-knit family as well as a record of the tumultuous history of race relations in the U.S. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Another Way Home tells the story of all of us looking to be warm and dry. It is a story to share. A story to pass along."

(Nikki Giovanni )

"A major accomplishment of Another Way Home is to demonstrate how a woman of mixed race could live a life that does not conform to all of the stereotypes promulgated by popular fiction and traditional perceptions. Ronne Hartfield''s mother, fondly known as Day, was not a tragic mulatto. She knew how, as Hartfield puts it so well, to live with who she was and with who all of her people were. This is a loving and honest book."

(Robert B. Stepto, author of Blue as the Lake: A Personal Geography )

"In this lyrical, riveting account of her mother''s life and history, Ronne Hartfield underscores the importance and permanence of our families'' legacies. You''ll be so enriched by reading it."

(Marian Wright Edelman, author of The Measure of Our Success and president of the )

"A poignant, powerful, and soulful narrative, Another Way Home captures the layers of life, the mixing of cultures, the crossing of boundaries, and the complex history of Day Shepherd, a mulatto woman—born at the turn of the last century—who looked white and lived colored. Blending the imagination of a storyteller, the heart of a poet, the lens of a social historian, and the devotion of a daughter, Ronne Hartfield weaves an inspiring intergenerational tale of an American family; a tale of ambition and compassion, anguish and hope; a tale filled with welcome warmth and earthy humor."

(Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, author of Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Healer )

"This is a warm and touching memoir of a close-knit family as well as a record of the tumultuous history of race relations in the U.S."—Vanessa Bush, Booklist

(Vanessa Bush Booklist )

"Bad mothers make for good books; so goes the conventional thinking. So go book sales and book-review headlines. Now along comes Ronne Hartfield''s Another Way Home to turn conventional thinking (thank goodness) on its head. Graceful, intelligent, full-hearted and searching, Hartfield''s memoir tells the story of her mother''s journey from a Southern plantation to the clamor of New Orleans to the bustle of Chicago''s Bronzeville. . . . Hartfield''s purpose in writing this memoir is to paint a portrait of mixed-race America by using the particulars of her mother''s life. What choices did a woman who looked white but considered herself to be black have, in the early decades of the American Century? What was expected of her? Was her skin color a subterfuge?"--Beth Kephart, Chicago Tribune

 

(Beth Kephart Chicago Tribune )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (October 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226318214
• ISBN-13: 978-0226318219
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #649,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read..., December 28, 2004

By 

Alice Hammer (Fox River Grove, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family (Hardcover)

Why isn't this on the best seller list? Ronne Hartfield's family history is beautifully written, covering not only her family's transition from Mississippi to Chicago but black history as well. I grew up in a white neighborhood in Chicago. This book let me step into a parallel universe! Hartfield also covers women's changing roles over a century. The loving relationships among family members are a model and inspiration for all of us.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Race and the Emergence of Identity, December 31, 2005

By 

Sarina Butler (Chicago Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family (Hardcover)

Another Way Home takes the reader through a time that first seems long gone, but surprises with its current influence and meaning. At first blush the story tells of the societal strictures of the South against mulattos. Gradually, the reader realizes that the book is actually about the development of identity and the hurdles society puts in the path of individuals. The book becomes less about the tensions of black and white, and more about the importance of solid values, courage and self-confidence. Ultimately it is these three critical traits in Day Rone that enable her to create the life she wants with the man she loves, and to raise a gifted family of solidy rooted individuals. Day Rone shares everything with my Sicilain grandmother and my husband's Irish mother -- proving that we are more like one another beneath the skin than we are different. The book engages from the first page because it speaks to every family. Beautifully written, imaginatively presented, and too true to be fiction, it makes for an entertaining and moving reading experience. It's a book worth reading so that we do not forget the struggles of the past, and also so that we can see the strong women who shape our own lives.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Way Home, November 25, 2004

By 

Catharine Reeve (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family (Hardcover)

Another Way Home, by Ronne Hartfield, works for me on three levels: 1) it tells the ever-interesting story of a woman (Hartfield's mother) who grew up a mulatto in the segregated South, then passed for white in Chicago; 2) it is a strong and powerful tribute by Hartfield to her mother, beautifully and lyrically told; and 3) it moves from the personal to the universal, reminding us all of the family continuum we are born into and the remarkable people our parents often are.

This book is a history lesson told through personal anecdote. As it wends its way through Day Rone's journey from South to North, the reader is given an up-close look at the celebrations, achievements and tragic loss of a remarkable American family. Celebrating Day Rone's life will lead you to want to celebrate your own family, too. I strongly recommend this book.