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Yonder Come Day: Exploring the Collective Witness of the Formerly Enslaved
As our nation has experienced a renewal of reckoning with the reality of slavery in our past and the continued struggle for equality and liberation in the present, many previously untold stories have come to light. But not every story. Some histories remain shrouded, waiting for someone to uncover them and make them known. Incredibly, some of them have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
Yonder Come Day brings these hidden histories into the light in an unconventional yet powerful way. Drawing from the interviews of more than 3,000 formerly enslaved people from across the South collected in the 1930s, Jasmine L. Holmes creates a compelling "collective memoir" unlike anything you've heard. The story follows Little One, a composite character who guides the modern-day listener through the experience of slavery. As she grows from Little Bit to Lonely One to Lovely One to Grandmama, she exposes both harsh truths and an irrepressible spirit, helping us better understand the love, resilience, and faithfulness necessary to survive the evils of our nation's original sin.
Teachers, historians, and anyone doing the work of reconciliation will find that Yonder Come Day is the vital resource they didn't even know they were missing.
Yonder Come Day brings these hidden histories into the light in an unconventional yet powerful way. Drawing from the interviews of more than 3,000 formerly enslaved people from across the South collected in the 1930s, Jasmine L. Holmes creates a compelling "collective memoir" unlike anything you've heard. The story follows Little One, a composite character who guides the modern-day listener through the experience of slavery. As she grows from Little Bit to Lonely One to Lovely One to Grandmama, she exposes both harsh truths and an irrepressible spirit, helping us better understand the love, resilience, and faithfulness necessary to survive the evils of our nation's original sin.
Teachers, historians, and anyone doing the work of reconciliation will find that Yonder Come Day is the vital resource they didn't even know they were missing.
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2024
18 people are currently reading
2441 people want to read
About the author
Jasmine L. Holmes
15 books304 followersJasmine L. Holmes has written for The Gospel Coalition, Desiring God, Fathom Mag, Christianity Today, and The Witness. She is also a contributing author for Identity Theft: Reclaiming the Truth of Our Identity in Christ and His Testimonies, My Heritage: Women of Color on the Word of God. She teaches humanities in a classical Christian school in Jackson, Mississippi, where she and her husband, Phillip, are parenting two young sons.
Jasmine L. Holmes is the daughter of Voddie T. Baucham Jr.
Jasmine L. Holmes is the daughter of Voddie T. Baucham Jr.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 24, 2025
Man, I wish this book had existed when I studied the WPA narratives in high school ages ago. Holmes does an outstanding job of distilling a huge sample of narratives in a nuanced but accessible way. The contents are absolutely heartbreaking, but she also pulls out threads that highlight the multifaceted experiences of the formerly enslaved people interviewed in the narratives.
She also gives a ton of insightful notes on the various challenges associated with interpreting the interviews, including how many of the ones used to prop up claims that American slavery "wasn't that bad" were conducted by interviewers who were descended from plantation owners and Confederate soldiers (a key factor my high school history curriculum failed to inform me of *coughs*) Holmes doesn't dismiss these interviews, but she does contextualize them, often by sharing the editorial notes from the interviewers themselves. Overall I very much appreciated how scholarly and, again, nuanced, her approach was—embracing the variation within the narratives rather than cherrypicking.
It's a quick read but a packed one. Will absolutely be recommending this to everyone.
CWs: slavery, physical abuse (described graphically in a couple places), sexual abuse, racism
She also gives a ton of insightful notes on the various challenges associated with interpreting the interviews, including how many of the ones used to prop up claims that American slavery "wasn't that bad" were conducted by interviewers who were descended from plantation owners and Confederate soldiers (a key factor my high school history curriculum failed to inform me of *coughs*) Holmes doesn't dismiss these interviews, but she does contextualize them, often by sharing the editorial notes from the interviewers themselves. Overall I very much appreciated how scholarly and, again, nuanced, her approach was—embracing the variation within the narratives rather than cherrypicking.
It's a quick read but a packed one. Will absolutely be recommending this to everyone.
CWs: slavery, physical abuse (described graphically in a couple places), sexual abuse, racism
October 13, 2024
Based in the original source of the WPA narratives, this book is the story of US slavery from the mouths of those who experienced it. Everyone should read it, and it should be included in every highschool curriculum. Jasmine Holmes is a treasure.
August 11, 2025
Listening to this was a bit challenging due to the changing perspectives, but I did keep up. It’s definitely worth reading if you have any interest in the true stories of how slaves lived and were treated in America.
April 27, 2025
This book is written from a unique perspective--a woman who is an amalgamation of different slave narratives from birth to old age. Her tale is told through the interviews conducted by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. Holmes intersperses multiple quotes throughout each chapter of the woman's life to corroborate the life of "Little Bit." We follow her from her birth into slavery, through her family being sold, through marriage and the birth of her own children, and finally to freedom and finding her husband again after emancipation. The quotes from former slaves are heart-breaking, but Holmes handles the topic with honesty. Although she did not want to use the WPA narratives, because she didn't think the former slaves would be honest for fear of retribution, she is able read between the lines and glean the true stories of a horrific time in our nation's history--a history that needs to be known.
February 22, 2025
"By saying their names, we are not naming them for the first time but honoring the names that have always belonged to these people whom someone loved."
I find it hard to describe such a uniquely written book. I will say that I thought it would be more academic than it was. I was sucked in by the well-written story and then discovered just how much I was learning (not just about the lives of the enslaved but also about evaluating and accurately viewing source material). Jasmine Holmes has the heart of a teacher and you can tell how much she loves her subject matter. I absolutely loved this book and am definitely keeping it in mind as an excellent book to read alongside my kids when they're in high school.
I find it hard to describe such a uniquely written book. I will say that I thought it would be more academic than it was. I was sucked in by the well-written story and then discovered just how much I was learning (not just about the lives of the enslaved but also about evaluating and accurately viewing source material). Jasmine Holmes has the heart of a teacher and you can tell how much she loves her subject matter. I absolutely loved this book and am definitely keeping it in mind as an excellent book to read alongside my kids when they're in high school.
October 12, 2024
This book is so unique and so well done. I loved Jasmine Holmes already but she has really done something special with this book. It is a combo of nonfiction and research based fiction as she tells the story of a composite character whose name changes as she experiences different phases of her life. I learned so much about the WPA narrative. So much was hard to read but also so important to know. I encourage anyone with a passing interest in history to pick it up.
March 30, 2025
Holmes does a remarkable job taking first hand accounts of slaves via the Work Projects Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and weaving them together. Not surprisingly, the results are hard to read (or listen to!). I’m constantly amazed how little I still know about slavery in America as an “educated” person. Particularly difficult to hear how the church and Scripture were used to perpetuate such horrific abuse.
This was audio and not for the faint of heart.
This was audio and not for the faint of heart.
January 2, 2026
This should be a mandatory read for any person studying history. Historical narratives woven together in a way that highlight the often untold complexities of recording oral histories. Don't shy away from the uncomfortable parts of heritage.
September 18, 2024
This book was purchased through Amazon.
Jasmine Holmes runs a fabulous instagram page where she not only talks about her family, her job in a Mississippi historical museum, but also her love and interest in Black History-especially the WPA narratives of the formerly enslaved (where I believe she is focusing her doctoral dissertation).
That interest shines through in this book. Here she tells the fictional story of Little Bit, a three year old girl who is sold away from her mother, the life she lived as an enslaved child and woman and her life as a free woman. Weaved into that story is some actual WPA narratives and historical perspectives on them. If you have never been exposed to the WPA narratives this book is a great introduction to them.
Jasmine Holmes runs a fabulous instagram page where she not only talks about her family, her job in a Mississippi historical museum, but also her love and interest in Black History-especially the WPA narratives of the formerly enslaved (where I believe she is focusing her doctoral dissertation).
That interest shines through in this book. Here she tells the fictional story of Little Bit, a three year old girl who is sold away from her mother, the life she lived as an enslaved child and woman and her life as a free woman. Weaved into that story is some actual WPA narratives and historical perspectives on them. If you have never been exposed to the WPA narratives this book is a great introduction to them.
August 30, 2024
I was so excited to win this book. I've taught the slave narratives at my local community college for the last ten or fifteen years and read all the WPA/FWP narratives available. Many of the questions I ask of my students in their slave narrative projects are debated in the pages of this book. I was very grateful that the state names were included in the in-text citations so I could go and reread certain narratives again to get a fuller picture. I was more than a little jealous to realize the author had access to the Louisiana narratives as I have never been able to find them.
The one TINY flaw I found as I was reading was the continuously changing name of the main composite character. I was ready for the changes of lonely one to lovely one, etc., but I did find it confusing when the names shifted to things like Cherished and Sister.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the slave narratives. Many of my former students would love this one.
The one TINY flaw I found as I was reading was the continuously changing name of the main composite character. I was ready for the changes of lonely one to lovely one, etc., but I did find it confusing when the names shifted to things like Cherished and Sister.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the slave narratives. Many of my former students would love this one.
September 4, 2024
Description
As our nation has experienced a renewal of reckoning with the reality of slavery in our past and the continued struggle for equality and liberation in the present, many previously untold stories have come to light. But not every story. Some histories remain shrouded, waiting for someone to uncover them and make them known. Incredibly, some of them have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
Yonder Come Day brings these hidden histories into the light in an unconventional yet powerful way. Drawing from the recorded interviews of more than 3,000 formerly enslaved people from across the South collected in the 1930s, Jasmine L. Holmes creates a compelling "collective memoir" unlike anything you've read. The story follows Little One, a composite character who guides the modern-day reader through the experience of slavery. As she grows from Little Bit to Lonely One to Lovely One to Grandmama, she exposes both harsh truths and an irrepressible spirit, helping us better understand the love, resilience, and faithfulness necessary to survive the evils of our nation's original sin.
Teachers, historians, and anyone doing the work of reconciliation will find that Yonder Come Day is the vital resource they didn't even know they were missing.
My Take:
This is a unique case where the description does the heavy lifting for the reviewer. Therefore, I can assure you that the reader will receive exactly what is promised. Additionally, I recommend this book to individuals who may enter communities with the intent of extracting data. It explores how their biases and identities influence the data collected. It also examines how one can engage with communities empathetically and attentively, rather than merely advancing their own agendas. This book probes these issues, fostering dialogue and opening avenues for transformation. It is a valuable addition to syllabi that cover data collection methodologies and more.
As our nation has experienced a renewal of reckoning with the reality of slavery in our past and the continued struggle for equality and liberation in the present, many previously untold stories have come to light. But not every story. Some histories remain shrouded, waiting for someone to uncover them and make them known. Incredibly, some of them have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
Yonder Come Day brings these hidden histories into the light in an unconventional yet powerful way. Drawing from the recorded interviews of more than 3,000 formerly enslaved people from across the South collected in the 1930s, Jasmine L. Holmes creates a compelling "collective memoir" unlike anything you've read. The story follows Little One, a composite character who guides the modern-day reader through the experience of slavery. As she grows from Little Bit to Lonely One to Lovely One to Grandmama, she exposes both harsh truths and an irrepressible spirit, helping us better understand the love, resilience, and faithfulness necessary to survive the evils of our nation's original sin.
Teachers, historians, and anyone doing the work of reconciliation will find that Yonder Come Day is the vital resource they didn't even know they were missing.
My Take:
This is a unique case where the description does the heavy lifting for the reviewer. Therefore, I can assure you that the reader will receive exactly what is promised. Additionally, I recommend this book to individuals who may enter communities with the intent of extracting data. It explores how their biases and identities influence the data collected. It also examines how one can engage with communities empathetically and attentively, rather than merely advancing their own agendas. This book probes these issues, fostering dialogue and opening avenues for transformation. It is a valuable addition to syllabi that cover data collection methodologies and more.
October 20, 2024
This book is a gem and it's first-hand accounts of slavery are diamonds. Jasmine took the priceless testimonies of the enslaved and wove them together with a fictional composite character, giving the book a story that carried me through.
I learned that many WPA interviews were conducted by white people in the Jim Crow South, which limits how forthcoming an interviewee would be.
I learned that slavery was even worse than I thought. I hadn't before considered how events like marriage and childbirth could be filled with fear and dread. A husband could be sold to another master at any time. Bringing a baby into the world meant subjecting them to a life of abuse and sadness. When raising a child, there was no asking "what do you want to be when you grow up?"
I was horrified that the enslaved people experienced accidental incest--a mother might accidentally marry her son who had been sold away years before. I can't imagine.
"The death of sixty babies" was the most traumatizing section of the book for me. Both how the babies were conceived and how they died. Unimaginable.
The stories of resistance and triumph gave the book a triumphant end. I recommend this to anyone who wants to expand their empathy and understanding of slavery.
I learned that many WPA interviews were conducted by white people in the Jim Crow South, which limits how forthcoming an interviewee would be.
I learned that slavery was even worse than I thought. I hadn't before considered how events like marriage and childbirth could be filled with fear and dread. A husband could be sold to another master at any time. Bringing a baby into the world meant subjecting them to a life of abuse and sadness. When raising a child, there was no asking "what do you want to be when you grow up?"
I was horrified that the enslaved people experienced accidental incest--a mother might accidentally marry her son who had been sold away years before. I can't imagine.
"The death of sixty babies" was the most traumatizing section of the book for me. Both how the babies were conceived and how they died. Unimaginable.
The stories of resistance and triumph gave the book a triumphant end. I recommend this to anyone who wants to expand their empathy and understanding of slavery.
February 12, 2025
By turns horrific and uplifting, Jasmine Holmes, teacher, writer, and historian, weaves together true accounts from the WPA interviews with the formerly enslaved and an imagined history for a nameless woman who could embody these narratives clearly. In so doing she creates something that's truer than fiction; a thorough account for the often fragmented histories of the formerly enslaved. Inspired by her own family legacy, Holmes creates an emotional throughline that she grounds heavily in the lived experiences and words of the WPA interviewees, which never feels manipulative or false, one of horror, trauma, torture, and grief, but also great, enduring love, and great faith that carried so many of the enslaved through. This is a beautiful story, and while it may tread ground that many in the antiracist world have already heard, something about the twining of Holmes' narrative with the real words of the formerly enslaved hits on something all the stark historical accountings cannot. Moreover, this is a surprisingly readable, accessible work, which, by Holmes' own admission, is aimed at a white audience who has never reckoned with this aspect of history before, making it an important, necessary work in its own right.
November 18, 2024
Even though I have read so many accounts of slavery from those who lived it in the 1700s-1800s in the US, I learned far more from this book than I have from several others. It was truly eye opening, mind boggling, and downright sad to read this book. It was informative while keeping me interested the entire time.
While there were many people who shared their stories several years after the Emancipation, many of them were fabricated by white people trying to create a narrative (WPA narratives) of how well the slaves were treated (according to their terms and to save face). This book tells the story of a few who left their stories in full without holding back. This mainly follows the story of a woman's life (with other stories scattered in).
The stories about the babies and children were especially filled with such sadness for me to read. So many families were separated or even forced to be created in order to instill breeding for their masters. I feel this is one of the best books I have ever read on this subject.
While there were many people who shared their stories several years after the Emancipation, many of them were fabricated by white people trying to create a narrative (WPA narratives) of how well the slaves were treated (according to their terms and to save face). This book tells the story of a few who left their stories in full without holding back. This mainly follows the story of a woman's life (with other stories scattered in).
The stories about the babies and children were especially filled with such sadness for me to read. So many families were separated or even forced to be created in order to instill breeding for their masters. I feel this is one of the best books I have ever read on this subject.
October 2, 2024
Quick, powerful, heart-wrenching, unique, yet important read. I’ve never read anything quite like this. It’s historical memoirs woven into historical fiction and tells the stories of those who were formerly enslaved while following a fictional story of a girl who very well could have existed.
In this day and age I have lost a lot trust with those passing down history. With different agendas and biases and revisions of the past, it has caused me to be skeptical of almost all sources of history. Jasmine has done an excellent job at doing her research and bringing things to light while also acknowledging some of the shortcomings of those recalling their stories, as well as the biases of those recording them. This is very much true for the WPA collections from which we get many of our narratives from former slaves, and what this book is based on. I definitely recommend this, and is a book I’ll be making my children read one day.
In this day and age I have lost a lot trust with those passing down history. With different agendas and biases and revisions of the past, it has caused me to be skeptical of almost all sources of history. Jasmine has done an excellent job at doing her research and bringing things to light while also acknowledging some of the shortcomings of those recalling their stories, as well as the biases of those recording them. This is very much true for the WPA collections from which we get many of our narratives from former slaves, and what this book is based on. I definitely recommend this, and is a book I’ll be making my children read one day.
September 11, 2024
The WPA slave narratives aimed to capture the stories of prior slaves and were undertaken in the 1930s. In this book, Holmes masterfully weaves stories from the WPA slave narratives with the story of a Black girl who grows into a woman and then a matriarch through the years of slavery up to the 1930s.
I loved how Holmes grounded the WPA narratives in a larger story that made you want to keep reading and gave a place for each of the WPA narratives to shine. Having many WPA narratives referenced throughout each chapter really helped the reader understand the atrocities that occurred by reading about them from many different narratives. Reading about the lived experiences of these prior slaves was not easy, but important and I definitely want to read more of these narratives now.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.
I loved how Holmes grounded the WPA narratives in a larger story that made you want to keep reading and gave a place for each of the WPA narratives to shine. Having many WPA narratives referenced throughout each chapter really helped the reader understand the atrocities that occurred by reading about them from many different narratives. Reading about the lived experiences of these prior slaves was not easy, but important and I definitely want to read more of these narratives now.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.
April 8, 2025
I have a hard time adjusting my rating for books based on their audiobook quality as I feel they are two separate things, but unfortunately this audio was very rough and distracting from the incredible work that this book is. There are a few aspects of the book that don’t lend itself well to audio, and lines were constantly being repeated in the audiobook (maybe my phone was lagging? But it happened even when I exited my Libby app and rewound, etc.) and it just bummed me out because this book is truly wonderful and necessary and the amount of effort put in by Holmes is obviously tremendous (which I think is why I was so bothered by the audio being the way it was). Hopefully someday my library will get a physical copy of this and I can revisit.
July 16, 2025
Yonder Come Day weaves stories from the WPA narratives with the composite character of Little One. The reader is able to form a connection with the character Little One as she grows and her story evolves as well as learn through the excerpts from WPA narratives. This book is not exactly light as it deals with the tough topic of slavery in the South, but is very well written and such an engaging read. I highly recommend this book!
December 31, 2025
This book is incredible. Jasmine L Holmes reviewed and analyzed the narratives of the formerly enslaved collected during the Great Depression and provides the reader with such a clear picture of the heartbreak, abuse, and horrors of slavery. She masterfully includes historical context for the reader and primary sources. A powerful read for any historian or someone looking to learn more about this shameful part of our nation's history.
November 20, 2024
Stunning. In every way.
The author weaves real-life, first-person accounts of the formerly enslaved with a fictional composite character, to tell a brutal, beautiful story of life before (and after) Emancipation.
This book should be required reading and I can’t wait to discuss it with our patrons.
The author weaves real-life, first-person accounts of the formerly enslaved with a fictional composite character, to tell a brutal, beautiful story of life before (and after) Emancipation.
This book should be required reading and I can’t wait to discuss it with our patrons.
February 17, 2025
This book is a composite narrative of the enslaved based on the WPA narratives, weaving true stories and records with a narrative character in a way that centers those enslaved and honors their memory. It is brutally honest about the horrors of slavery while holding sacred the perspective of those oppressed by it. One of the most impactful books I have ever read.
October 11, 2024
Get the tissues ready! A great read! I don’t know what to say, I don’t generally read books like this but my eyes and heart have opened. I was confused amongst the people at times but other than that, just great!!
October 26, 2024
Really enjoyed this book! Jasmine creates a thoroughly believable story of a formerly enslaved woman and brings it alive with receipts. Her research is so thorough, and the way she shares it is engaging.
November 21, 2024
Heartbreaking and profound exploration of enslavement in the American south, as told by those who actually experienced it. Jasmine Holmes is an incredible historian and her unique format for this book was wonderful. Everyone should read it.
December 14, 2025
This is an incredibly unique way to use the WPA narratives! The author provides an excellent analysis of the challenges of the narratives as a historical source in the introduction, but still uses them in a way that is readable and compliments the broader historical narrative.
September 10, 2024
A beautiful and important book
October 30, 2024
4.5. My favorite book that I have read by this author
December 17, 2024
I think there's just so much here that needs to be told. I'm glad this was written.
January 1, 2025
Jasmine Holmes is a genius, love her writing. She’s a great storyteller and history teacher, and her effort to provide source material is amazing. Must read!
January 21, 2025
Stories of slavery captured during the WPA program are riveting, disturbing, and worthy of your attention. For anyone interested in the darkest part of American history, this is a must.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews