Some Memories of a Long Life, 1854-1911 2002 Modern Library edition by Malvina Shanklin Harlan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Linda Przybysz (2002) Hardcover

by Malvina Shanklin Harlan

Like Abigail Adams, Malvina Shanklin Harlan witnessed—and gently influenced—national history from the unique perspective of a political leader’s wife. Her husband, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan (1833–1911), played a central role in some of the most significant civil rights decisions of his era, including his lone dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, the infamous case that endorsed separate but equal segregation. And for fifty-seven years he was married to a woman who was busy making a mental record of their eventful lives.After Justice Harlan’s death in 1911, Malvina wrote Some Memories of a Long Life, 1854–1911, as a testament to her husband’s accomplishments and to her own. The memoir begins with Malvina, the daughter of passionate abolitionists, becoming the teenage bride of John Marshall Harlan, whose family owned more than a dozen slaves. Malvina depicts her life in antebellum Kentucky, and her courageous defense of the Harlan homestead during the Civil War. She writes of her husband’s ascent in legal circles and his eventual appointment to the Supreme Court in 1877, where he was the author of opinions that continued to influence American race relations deep into the twentieth century. Yet Some Memories is more than a wife’s account of a famous and powerful man. It chronicles the remarkable evolution of a young woman from Indiana who became a keen observer of both her family’s life and that of her nation.When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg began researching the history of the women associated with the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress sent her Malvina Harlan’s unpublished manuscript. Recalling Abigail Adams’s order to “remember the ladies,” Justice Ginsburg has guided its long journey from forgotten document to published book. Some Memories of a Long Life includes a Foreword by Justice Ginsburg, as well as an Afterword by historian Linda Przybyszewski and an Epilogue of the Harlan legacy by Amelia Newcomb. According to Library Journal, “This is the sort of book you call a publishing event.”From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Womens, Biography Memoir, Biography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a memoir written by the wife of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan. The book is unusual for a number of reasons. First, it is rare to find a record written by the spouse of a Supreme Court Justice. Second, the time period about which Mrs. Harlan writes spans the Civil War era (yeah for me). And, finally, it includes some insights into the impressions of a girl brought up in the North who, in the 1850s, goes to live in Kentucky with her husband's slave-holding family. The impressions are not what I expected. What I find so amazing is how quickly she grew accustomed to slavery in her husband's home in Kentucky. The startlingly unembarrassed racism from a northern-born woman whose family was abolitionist is shocking. And yet, I shouldn't be surprised from that time period. As an openly frank account from that time period, the book is a real treasure trove. For that reason, I've found the book utterly fascinating. It's quite well written. It's the rarity of the record that merits an instant five stars.

[Michaelene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both fascinating and enchanting. I appreciated an intimate and complex look at slavery pre- and post-Civil War from a woman who lived it. Definitely lots to contemplate. While the detailed footnotes were very helpful, I could have done without some of the biased commentary in the Afterword.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always interesting to read "history" via memoir. Malvina Shanklin Harlan brings a slice of her history to life for us to read, in an intelligent and accessible way.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice insight into American life in the mid to late nineteenth century from someone close the center of power.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its like your grandmother telling you stories about her life, if you grandmother lived through the civil war and was married to a Supreme Court justice. She's a little too polite (not enough gossip or sordid details) but a charming, pleasant read.

[Hoopsmcc]

I need to finish this