Customer Reviews

A Stronger Kinship: One Town's Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith

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Defined as "concealment and shelter," Covert, Michigan is an aptly named place. American history lessons taught in the 1960s never mentioned the fact that this town existed as a fully integrated community in the 1860s. Now nearly 150 years later, as we strive for racial equality, it is enlightening to know that it is part of our American heritage.

Anna-Lisa Cox has completed exhaustive research of the people and events that converged in a time that racism was so prevalent, three million Americans went to war to defend their beliefs.

A Stronger Kinship is filled with the names and histories of the people who created this concealed community founded on acceptance. In a time when education was not readily available to many whites in the unsettled frontiers of the Midwest, black and white children learned side-by-side in Covert. Interracial marriages and an equal distribution of wealth and property were normal.

At times it is a struggle to keep track of the names and dates, particularly when more than one person has the same name. Ample footnotes help guide the reader. More than a novel, this book is a historical depiction of important and relevant events.

Armchair Interviews says: Seeming too good to be true, it's hard to believe that such a wonderful legacy has not been widely honored and celebrated by history and all Americans.

The book is well researched and well written. I live in Covert (the town depicted in the book) and my husband was raised there. I am involved in the community and have spoken to several of the residents interviewed for the book. They felt it was an accurate depiction of life in
Covert, and my husband's recollections of the stories told to him as a child cofirm this. I met Ms. Anna-Lisa Cox this summer and was impressed with her dedication to telling Covert's story accurately and her continueing interest in the community. I was personally interested to read about an otherwise obscure village that was a beacon of hope to African -Americans looking for a place to be treated with dignity and respect in the 1800 and early 1900s.

I was drawn to this book because I was born and raised in the Toledo Ohio area...I was amazed at the history and facts as they were presented by Ms Cox..I had seen her interview on C-Span. I enjoyed the way she tired together the families and the communtiy. She also brought alive the struggles of the era. Like walking form North Carolina to Michigan!! The strength and fortitude of these people; the losses and the rewards for risk...I thought it was an amazing book and a very insightful look at the times

Ms. Cox has provided a window though which all of us can view the promise of America and what could have been. It is my hope that this well written and solidly researched "little" book can be widely distributed and read. I would recommend that it be sent to Oprah. Her book club would really have something to talk about.

Dr. James O. Jackson, Principal Emeritus

I want to thank Anna-Lisa for her efforts in researching and writing this book. It brings to light an area of the country that is probably like none other in America's history. I am a product of those people as well, being that my mother is a Pompey and a descendent of those free African Americans who came to Southwest Michigan from North Carolina and Virginia.

I too have been working on a book for many years and hope to have it published one day. It is about Cassopolis, Michigan, only 40 miles from Covert. It was probably even a greater example of a free African American utopia in the 1800's. There were black county commissioners, teachers, wealthy farmers (my great, great, great, great grandfather in 1902 was the largest taxpayer in Calvin Township in Cassopolis, having a net worth of over $50,000 and owning 500 acres... he was a former slave from Nottoway, VA) and business owners.

If anyone is interested in learning more about this area of the country where I was born and raised, I would suggest actually visiting Covert and the Cassopolis area. Covert has an awesome historical museum (albeit small) with great period photos and information.

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Thanks again, Anna-Lisa.

The story of the people in Covert, Michigan in the 1860's is inspirational. In the midst of institutionalized racism and discrimination of African Americans across the Mid-West, Covert chose to follow a path of inclusion and equality. This was truly revolutionary for the time and an experience we can learn from today. As a mother of a beautiful bi-racial child, I am often discouraged by racism as it still exists today. In the midst of the "dark ages" of racial relationships in the Mid-West, a beacon of light shone in rural West Michigan. People can make a difference! I highly recommend this book!

This is the story of Covert Township in Southwest Michigan from the 1860s to the early 1900s. Although blacks were always a relative small percentage of the already small population of the area, they were completely integrated into the educational, social, business, and religious lives of the community. Several blacks held elected public offices. The author explores why, in a time when the local people had to go against state law and general national attitude to treat all of their neighbors as equals, they chose to do so.