Welcome to Litsy!

This was a wonderfully odd and specific work of family *and* general history - focused on the story of African Americans in the US, yes, and also on the specific history of Lena Horne‘s grandparents, parents, and her own life - and the life of her daughter, who wrote the book. The research is good, I learned a lot that I didn‘t know, and still it leaves one wanting more in the chapters at the end. 4 ⭐️ but definitely a pick. #history #memoir

Did not know this about Truman (the only president from my city btw): “The Truman inauguration, thanks to his show of friendship with blacks, was the most integrated since James A. Garfield‘s. Garfield, an abolitionist and a Union war hero, ran on a pro-Reconstruction platform and won the presidency in 1880 without a single Southern state—but with the black vote. Garfield was assassinated in 1881.”

“In February 1942, a mob of some 1,200 [white] men armed with clubs, knives, and shotguns gathered to prevent three Negro families from moving into the two-hundred unit Sojourner Truth Housing Project, designated by the U.S. Housing Authority, of which Frank Horne was an official, as Negro housing.”

😡😡😡😡😡😡😡 THE. SOJOURNER. TRUTH. HOUSING. PROJECT. (Detroit)

In the middle of WWII. #history

The more I read about US history, the more 😮😡😡😡😡😡😡 I am. And not that France was or is truly great with Black people, including those from its former colonies, but ... this is interesting, and one sees why James Baldwin and many other Black expats sought out refuge in France. #history #WWI

“The Vatican profited heavily from slavery and the slave trade, but had a civilizing effect on slavery itself. In Catholic areas—Louisiana, for example, as well as Latin America—slave marriages were sanctified, and children could not be sold away from their parents.”

I knew the first part but CERTAINLY not the second part. You‘d think my Church education would‘ve emphasized that? Interesting.

My first #history book for May. Happy that one of my libraries has it! Gail Buckley is the daughter of Lena Horne, but that‘s not why I snagged this book - it was because of this review: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/books/review/the-black-calhouns-by-gail-lumet... #BlackHistoryYear

I will admit, I was drawn to this book because of the author‘s relation to the late great Miss Lena Horne. However, the entire family narrative is fascinating so I am doubly glad I picked it up. #gaillumetbuckley