Customer Reviews

Ely: An Autobiography (A Brown Thrasher Book)

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Sewanee, T.N. is currently known for the school there by the same name (or a.k.a. University of the South). However, when Ely Green, the subject and author, was growing up in the early 1900's, his little town of Sewanee was everything to him, and not just the school but the people too, and more. Even in the tumultuous times Ely clinged to this idea of a beautiful sanctuary, but being black in a small southern town was still no picnic, even in this quasi-oasis of Sewanee.

Ely, in a distinct (and mostly accurate) format tells of his life from his birth till his early twenties. He tells of how he was born of an anonymous white man, a local noble of Sewanee, and his black mother, whom died when Ely was young. Ely also tells how this mixed-heritage placed him in a quandary where the other African American distanced themselves from him, while the wealthy whites for the most part appreciated him. And Ely also tells how isolation seemed to come like the tides.

But that is merely a small part of Ely's past as he describes in much more detail his unusual life and that of his favorite town and estranged mother, Sewanee. Because few have ever had a life like Ely, and until this book few would of ever known of one such as Ely's either.

Loved this book. In a pure, clear voice, Elisha Green -- a young man who was 1/2 black, 1/2 white -- tells the story of his life a hundred years ago in the small university town of Sewanee, TN.