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The Garretts of Columbia

A Black South Carolina Family from Slavery to the Dawn of Integration

David Nicholson author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:University of South Carolina Press

Published:31st Jan '24

Should be back in stock very soon

The Garretts of Columbia cover

A writer in search of his roots discovers stories of African American struggle, sacrifice, and achievement.

In The Garretts of Columbia, author David Nicholson tells a multigenerational story of Black hope and resilience. Carefully researched and beautifully written, The Garretts of Columbia engages readers with stories of a family whose members believed in the possibility of America. Nicholson relates the sacrifices, defeats, and affirming victories of a cohort of stalwart men and women who embraced education, fought for their country, and asserted their dignity in the face of a society that denied their humanity and discounted their abilities.

The letters of Anna Maria "Mama" Threewitts Garrett, along with other archival sources and family stories passed down through generations, provided the framework that allowed Nicholson to trace his family's deep history, and with it a story about Black life in segregated Columbia, SC, from the years after the Civil War to World War II.

A fascinating excursion into a past that, though relatively recent, has long been hidden from view.

(Kirkus Reviews (starred review))

"[The Garretts of Columbia] Captures a family with both the rich detail of a biographer and the artistry of a novelist. A remarkable achievement."

- David A. Taylor (Washington Independent Review of Bo

ISBN: 9781643364544

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 272g

328 pages