Blue as the Lake: A Personal Geography

by Robert B. Stepto

Blue as the Lake maps out an African-American landscape unique in American literature. From Idlewild, the black resort on Lake Michigan where he vacationed as a child with his grandparents, to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, Robert Stepto traces a history of generations finding and making a home. His family lore careens through American history- we meet a black regiment in World War I; legendary jazz musician Coleman Hawkins, and Inabel Burns, pioneering feminist and great-granddaughter of slaves.

Beautifully and intimately rendered, Stepto's memoir is a stunning meditation on what it means to be American.

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 1998

About the author

Robert B. Stepto is Professor of English, African American Studies, and American Studies at Yale University. He is the author of From Behind the Veil: A Study of Afro-American Narrative.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Stepto's memoir of family history and geography is a real wonder, a work of quiet and exceptional beauty. I picked it up because of his Chicago connections and because I had almost taken a course on biography he offered (alas it did not fit my schedule). I enjoyed it because it is a memoir of personal and familial history, not interested in the horrible or salacious, but in small revelations and deeper human insight. I admit to wishing for a family tree to keep relations straight, but his weaving of his family's past with his own story worked remarkably well. And to catch historical glimpses of Chicago's South Side (Woodlawn, Chatham, Hyde Park) as well as the African American resorts in Idlewood, MI and on Martha's Vineyard provided deep insights into middle-class black life during the middle of the 20th century. The work as a whole is about even more than that - it is about family, place, and crafting identity in the shifting American landscape.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written memoir. No major crises, no stories of tragedy and redemption, just a man's reflections on his life and family.

The book is in three sections: his growing up in a middle-class black family in the 1950s & 60s on Chicago's South Side and the summers spent at Idlewild in Michigan; stories of his grandparents and great-grandparents; and his reflections on his mother, his relationship with his father, and his current summers spent on Martha's Vineyard with his family and his sisters', where they now are the adults.

Originally a South Sider myself, I enjoyed hearing about his experiences in the Woodlawn and Chatham neighborhoods in the 1950s. I also appreciated learning about the specific difficulties of being Black and middle-class.