Sugar of the Crop: My Journey to Find the Children of Slaves [Hardcover]

Sana Butler (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Sugar of the Crop tells the story of an unprecedented quest to find the last surviving children of slaves. In a revealing journey that takes her from Los Angeles to Louisiana, from a Harlem church to a Virginia nursing home, Sana Butler paints a fascinating picture of freed slaves as husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, and tells the story of how they raised children after the Civil War.

Drawing on a decade of interviews with centenarians whose parents were slaves, Butler reveals how African Americans emerged from slavery with a powerful drive to put the past behind and a deep commitment to make the most of their opportunities, large and small. Like immigrants, freed slaves faced a new America with hopes and dreams for their children and the nation’s future. Impelled by a generation that exercised political power at a rate never again seen in this country, the sons and daughters were raised to be independent and often fearless thinkers, laying the groundwork for what would later become the Civil Rights Movement.

Through one of the most important new explorations of African American history in recent memory, Butler tells a profound story of our past and present from a perspective never seen before. Not since the Works Progress Administration gathered slave narratives during the Great Depression has a journalist conducted such in-depth primary interviews into this epic period in America’s history. Underlying the story of her bittersweet devotion to finding a generation everyone told her was long dead is Butler’s even more personal story—that of her father struggling with a rare cancer, holding on just long enough to watch his daughters grow up. Collecting priceless oral histories and seeking answers to questions about her own family tree, Butler offers a penetrating and controversial new perspective on the seemingly well known and documented story of slavery and its slaves. In so doing, she turns history as we know it upside down.

From the Back Cover

From Lexington, Kentucky, to Los Angeles, a Personal Journey Across America to Find and Interview the Children of Former Slaves

 

Sugar of the Crop reveals the human stories never told before of how slaves emerged from the Civil War to become selfless parents, and how they faced a new America with a powerful energy that helped lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement a century later. Opening up a new perspective on African American history, this book—based on the author’s interviews with sons and daughters of slaves—will enlighten, haunt, and inspire.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st edition (January 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599213753
• ISBN-13: 978-1599213750
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #763,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real American History & a must read, February 17, 2009

By 

Marisa Zuniga (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sugar of the Crop: My Journey to Find the Children of Slaves (Hardcover)

Once, I started reading this book on the oral history of children of slaves, it was hard to stop. Each family whom shared their story were vivid and bittersweet to read. Sentiments left over from the Slavery era and segregation in the South are explored in way which can be compared to contemporary experiences through the Author's personal history with her family. Her journey to find herself is beautifully woven into the fabric of the stories she experiences. I really enjoyed this book and its content lead me to be intrigued to further wonder about this American transitioning period. Check it out!

M.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Givin' a little Sugar!, August 22, 2009

By 

RYCJ (PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sugar of the Crop: My Journey to Find the Children of Slaves (Hardcover)

At first inspection this one seemed a little too heavy on the "huge wake-up" calls, and what "didn't make any sense." I thought educated people in 2009 had all this information.

But as I read on, (there was something in the voice so compelling I couldn't stop reading), I found many golden nuggets in Sugar of the Crop.

The title is great, and the cover most alluring. The research effort, the journalism, the storytelling, and particularly the tidbits of new information emerging through each interview were well worth the read. I happen to like more movement in a voice, however Ms. Butler's journalistic voice works well in delivering what reads like a story of stories. I think this is what I found compelling.

My own brows raised by the Appomaltox Nat'l Park visit...umm, took the slave quarters off the visitor's guide, turning them into restrooms! And the chapter on the Hayden's I really loved. (Incidentally where things picked up for me.) Just the way the visit is spelled out; the wife, and then Mr. Hayden, and Ms. Butler's growing disillusion, and whaala! She gets real, and then so does Mr. Hayden. Loved it.

Very, very good. Excellent book. I certainly have one place to carry Sugar of the Crops... to `my' family reunions!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening return to first and second sources, July 21, 2009

By 

F. Burke - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sugar of the Crop: My Journey to Find the Children of Slaves (Hardcover)

A surprising page turner, Sugar of the Crop was far more than I expected. By giving us her own story, both of the research process and her father's cancer, Sana Butler puts these interviews into a context both absorbing and heartfelt. And the tales of these slave descendants kept hitting me in the face with facts almost purposefully kept from American history. If you're a believer in Post Traumatic Slave Disorder, prepare to be disappointed. If you're a believer in the dignity and honor of the Confederacy, ditto. All you'll get here are real people and their stories -- no mythology or overarching theories. Several glaring editorial errors keep Sugar of the Crop from being five stars, but hopefully these will be corrected in a future edition. Informative, entertaining, and rewarding.