by Edward Ball
First published 2001
Edward Ball traces the century-long rise of the Harleston family, descendants of a Southern gentleman and his enslaved woman who transformed themselves into South Carolina's "colored elite." Starting from Civil War ruins, the Harlestons built wealth through their funeral parlor empire, affording them chauffeurs, custom clothing, and servants with darker skin than their own. Ball follows their journey from Reconstruction through the civil rights era, chronicling family members who became portrait artists painting industrialists like Pierre Du Pont, black classical composers in 1920s Paris, orphanage founders creating famous brass bands, and women who served as both mistresses and abortionists. The author draws on recollections from eighty-four-year-old family archivist Edwina Harleston Whitlock, whose bloodline he shares. Despite their advantages, the Harlestons faced segregation's barriers, early deaths, and scandal from children born outside marriage. Ball reveals a world of cultured, wealthy, imperfect black Americans who defied social conventions yet remained vulnerable to the forces that shaped all African American lives in their era.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-american, biography-memoir, african-american-historical-fiction, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, social-commentary
Setting: South Carolina, Paris, United States
Period: Reconstruction, Civil Rights Era
384 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: racism