East to the Bottom [Paperback]

Kelly Hewitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2005

Fifty years after the lynching of Emmett Till, K. D. Hewitt recalls historical events from the Civil War through today that have influenced and continue to impact the African American male psyche and family. She tells the real life saga of her free black antebellum Georgetown ancestors and Washington, D.C. family as relived through the eyes of their fictitious descendant, Calley MacAllister.Calley is haunted by her ancestors. In the hospital for a routine procedure, she loses consciousness and is spiritually taken to mid nineteenth century Georgetown. Here, the story of Sophia Johnson and her Georgetown/Foggy Bottom descendants' trials and tribulations begin. Their tales depict how certain family members touched U.S. historic events, and how those events touched them. With Calley, the reader traverses from 1857 to the present, through the streets of black Georgetown and Foggy Bottom, while tales of romance, war, suffrage, racketeering, and murder are yarned.K. D. Hewitt paints a canvas upon which actual census, other public records, family-member interviews, and her own life experiences were used to sketch the real, as Calley MacAllister and other characters were conjured to color-in the illusory.As readers cross the threshold into the Johnson's home, they are certain to experience not merely K.D. Hewitt's family, but this country's seeming typical yet unique African American family--the strength of its past not to be forgotten, the power of its future to be forever present.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

K.D. Hewitt, an African American, born and raised in Foggy Bottom Washington, D.C., is sixth generation Washingtonian as well as an attorney and economist. East to the Bottom is K.D. Hewitt's first Novel. She lives with her husband and two children as a U.S. Foreign Service family abroad. Q & A with K.D. Hewitt Q: How much of East to the Bottom is pure fiction? A: Very little. All of the main historical characters are my real ancestors. Q: Was Snooks a real person? A: Snooks' character is actually based on the life of my deceased uncle - Joseph M. Jr. The story of his struggles as an African American boy and man are real, including his Vietnam experience and subsequent dilemmas. Q: The Johnson and MacAllister women generally come across very strong and confident. Why is this? A: Writers can easily write about the familiar. Given this, I can only offer that my familiar - my family - is one of strong confident women. Why this is so, I do not exactly know. Perhaps, as the story implies, it has occurred simply out of necessity. Q: Ida Johnson is quite the liberal woman during a time (early 1900's) in which feminist freedom was frowned upon. Her character seems out of sync with the actual times? A: To the contrary, Ida was exactly what she was because of the times. Her spirit was always willing to go against the norm because of the changes around her. As an adult, I often call to memory my childhood images of her unconventional spirit that remained steadfast until her death Q: You mention your childhood. East to the Bottom focuses a number of pages on Callie MacAllister's life as a child on Virginia Avenue. Is this you? A: Yes. Callie's childhood stories are mine in the book's entirety. But, certain aspects of Callie's life as an adult are pure fiction. Q: Did you really find pre-Civil War Sophia and Richard Johnson while you were living in Budapest, Hungary. A: Yes. I found them in the 1860 census exactly where they were suppose to be. Johnson was spelled 'Johnston

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (August 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1420848402
• ISBN-13: 978-1420848403
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,547,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)