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The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family – An Oral Tradition Memoir Giving Voice to Slavery and Silenced Ancestors
“A Roots for a new generation, rich in storytelling and steeped in history.”
— Kirkus Reviews , starred review
“A compelling saga that gives a voice to those that history tried to erase . . . Poignant and eye-opening, this is a must-read.”
— Booklist
In The Other Madisons , Bettye Kearse—a descendant of an enslaved cook and, according to oral tradition, President James Madison—shares her family story and explores the issues of legacy, race, and the powerful consequences of telling the whole truth.
For thousands of years, West African griots (men) and griottes (women) have recited the stories of their people. Without this tradition Bettye Kearse would not have known that she is a descendant of President James Madison and his slave, and half-sister, Coreen. In 1990, Bettye became the eighth-generation griotte for her family. Their credo—“ Always remember—you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president ”—was intended to be a source of pride, but for her, it echoed with abuses of slavery, including rape and incest.
Confronting those abuses, Bettye embarked on a journey of discovery—of her ancestors, the nation, and herself. She learned that wherever African slaves walked, recorded history silenced their voices and buried their beside a slave-holding fortress in Ghana; below a federal building in New York City; and under a brick walkway at James Madison’s Virginia plantation. When Bettye tried to confirm the information her ancestors had passed down, she encountered obstacles at every turn.
Part personal quest, part testimony, part historical correction, The Other Madisons is the saga of an extraordinary American family told by a griotte in search of the whole story.
— Kirkus Reviews , starred review
“A compelling saga that gives a voice to those that history tried to erase . . . Poignant and eye-opening, this is a must-read.”
— Booklist
In The Other Madisons , Bettye Kearse—a descendant of an enslaved cook and, according to oral tradition, President James Madison—shares her family story and explores the issues of legacy, race, and the powerful consequences of telling the whole truth.
For thousands of years, West African griots (men) and griottes (women) have recited the stories of their people. Without this tradition Bettye Kearse would not have known that she is a descendant of President James Madison and his slave, and half-sister, Coreen. In 1990, Bettye became the eighth-generation griotte for her family. Their credo—“ Always remember—you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president ”—was intended to be a source of pride, but for her, it echoed with abuses of slavery, including rape and incest.
Confronting those abuses, Bettye embarked on a journey of discovery—of her ancestors, the nation, and herself. She learned that wherever African slaves walked, recorded history silenced their voices and buried their beside a slave-holding fortress in Ghana; below a federal building in New York City; and under a brick walkway at James Madison’s Virginia plantation. When Bettye tried to confirm the information her ancestors had passed down, she encountered obstacles at every turn.
Part personal quest, part testimony, part historical correction, The Other Madisons is the saga of an extraordinary American family told by a griotte in search of the whole story.
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 24, 2020
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October 30, 2020
I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but when I was given the opportunity to read this book, I couldn’t help but think how important it would be to read, especially now when our country is facing a reckoning with racism that still exists as reflected in so much that is happening now in this country. There are a lot of new books which focus on the issue of systematic racism and they certainly are important to read, but I think it’s also imperative to understand the history of slavery to get a better understanding of how we can as a country can confront the injustices, right the injustices. This stunning book is a personal story, a family history, but so much of it, no doubt reflects the stories of so many black families.
A tradition of oral story telling handed down from one generation to the next - what a beautiful thing ! Betty Kearse, a “griotte”, carrying on the tradition in her family brings her family story to print in this book . From oral tradition, to a “Bible stuffed full of family memorabilia” which was lost, to a box which her mother used to begin collecting again the family’s mementos, to this book. Memories of time with her grandfather and remembering his story telling were especially poignant moments. Trying to keep their legacy alive, Kearse’s mother not only collected mementos, she also researched . Inheriting the responsibility from her mother, they had different views on their Madison ancestry - her mother proud of being a descendant of a president and Bettye confronting the truth of rape and incest in the family’s history. She began her own research journey. She recounts her experiences in Virginia, a trip to Portugal where the slave trade began, she learns much, but realizes that parts of history had been “erased”. She travels to Ghana “to trace Mandy’s foot steps from Africa to America”.
I was especially taken by the beautifully written sections ascribed to Mandy, the first of the family to arrive from Africa and be enslaved. They tell a moving story indeed, and shed light on the beginning of this family history. These are journal like entries imagining Mandy as young girl and her horrific experiences from being taken from her home in Ghana, the inhumane treatment on the ship and her days at the Madison plantation, her abuse, the birth of her children.
While Kearse conducted extensive research for over twenty years, finding a genetic link proved to be an obstacle since Madison’s white male descendant refused to submit to a DNA test . This book, nonetheless is a compelling, well told, moving family history and an important one that should be read. It’s powerful.
I received a copy of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt through Caitlin Hamilton Marketing.
A tradition of oral story telling handed down from one generation to the next - what a beautiful thing ! Betty Kearse, a “griotte”, carrying on the tradition in her family brings her family story to print in this book . From oral tradition, to a “Bible stuffed full of family memorabilia” which was lost, to a box which her mother used to begin collecting again the family’s mementos, to this book. Memories of time with her grandfather and remembering his story telling were especially poignant moments. Trying to keep their legacy alive, Kearse’s mother not only collected mementos, she also researched . Inheriting the responsibility from her mother, they had different views on their Madison ancestry - her mother proud of being a descendant of a president and Bettye confronting the truth of rape and incest in the family’s history. She began her own research journey. She recounts her experiences in Virginia, a trip to Portugal where the slave trade began, she learns much, but realizes that parts of history had been “erased”. She travels to Ghana “to trace Mandy’s foot steps from Africa to America”.
I was especially taken by the beautifully written sections ascribed to Mandy, the first of the family to arrive from Africa and be enslaved. They tell a moving story indeed, and shed light on the beginning of this family history. These are journal like entries imagining Mandy as young girl and her horrific experiences from being taken from her home in Ghana, the inhumane treatment on the ship and her days at the Madison plantation, her abuse, the birth of her children.
While Kearse conducted extensive research for over twenty years, finding a genetic link proved to be an obstacle since Madison’s white male descendant refused to submit to a DNA test . This book, nonetheless is a compelling, well told, moving family history and an important one that should be read. It’s powerful.
I received a copy of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt through Caitlin Hamilton Marketing.
October 28, 2020
For years, Bettye Hearse’s family passed down the family credo, “Always remember- you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president.”
Kearse researched her ancestors and the history of slavery in this country. But it wasn’t easy. The story that had been shared with her and passed down through generations of her family revealed a path filled with roadblocks.
Kearse is a griotte, a family storyteller, and she has succeeded here with an illuminating, fascinating, heartrending, and powerful portrayal of her family. She has recorded the living, breathing oral history of her family, and it’s a must-read. It is a must-discuss. It’s a book everyone should be talking about. It’s well-written, compelling, and timely. Please read it.
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
Kearse researched her ancestors and the history of slavery in this country. But it wasn’t easy. The story that had been shared with her and passed down through generations of her family revealed a path filled with roadblocks.
Kearse is a griotte, a family storyteller, and she has succeeded here with an illuminating, fascinating, heartrending, and powerful portrayal of her family. She has recorded the living, breathing oral history of her family, and it’s a must-read. It is a must-discuss. It’s a book everyone should be talking about. It’s well-written, compelling, and timely. Please read it.
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
November 10, 2020
African history, African slaves...
....Family history, American slaves....
Family culture, African culture....
....genealogy, Heritage and legacy....
Ancestors and Identity....
....Social history....(enslavement, abuse, kidnapping, rape, racism, forced marriages, bondage, forced labor, men, women, and children were captive and endured horrific journeys on slave ships, commodities to be bought, sold, and exploited)... Jim Crow, reconstruction, etc.
Author Bettye Kearse, African American, a descendant of a white President, now a retired pediatrician...did almost thirty years of research tracing facts from eight generations in her family...
generations after generations.....giving us stories of ancestors and descendants from President James Madison, forth President of the United States...a Founding Father of our nation.
Bettye grew up hearing stories from her mother. She said her mother was like the ancient storytellers of West Africa. Her mother wanted her children and grandchildren to see their ancestors, and read their words.... so with the help of her great grandfather, her mother gathered up letters, documents, and photographs so the offsprings would have a more direct experience of how slaves and slave owners influenced who they were.
Before Bettye’s mother’s died, she gave her a memorabilia box filled with these letters and documents....then sent Bettye out on a journey to unveil as much truth as she could find. Bettye was given the family responsibility as the ‘family - African matriarch .... the ‘griotte’...( oral historian)....(stepping into her mother’s shoes)...
And...WOW....HATS OFF TO BETTYE! Her years of research and perseverance—( blood, sweat, and tears research through obstacles and painful history)...was remarkable.
The storytelling...characters ( past, and present), the traveling, the harsh realities — were gorgeous/ impressively poetically written — and so ‘personal’.... ( some happy moments too, so not all was bleak), but it’s real—and raw—and the historical UGLY PARTS ARE ‘ALL-OF-OUR’ HISTORY..
FOR As US TO EXPERIENCE....( to learn, grow, and make the right choices in our present days)....
This book is another GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO BEGIN TO TELL TRUTHFUL AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY....( all the things we were not taught in school).
Some of the books most devastating moments were the horrific conditions on slave ships. We learn about the character, Mandy ( and her stories are told in the present - adding a gripping emotional essence). Mandy was the first woman abducted ....and we as the reader are ( well, heartbroken for her).
One of my favorite times was when the family was in Oakland, California. She didn’t mention the names of the schools in Oakland...but I know them all....and started to wonder if Bettye Kearse and I had ever passed each other.
I never found out....but Bettye brought tears to my eyes listening to her talk on a YouTube.
Between reading this book....then listening to a couple of YouTube’s with Bettye talking....I was especially moved by Bettye’s diligence —
her YEARS of of dedication research ..... in order to write the best book - truthful - that she could.
A+
POWERFULLY ENGAGING!
Thanks to Angela ( read her review), who first brought this book to my attention. I knew ‘instantly’ I wanted and ‘had’ to read this.
....Family history, American slaves....
Family culture, African culture....
....genealogy, Heritage and legacy....
Ancestors and Identity....
....Social history....(enslavement, abuse, kidnapping, rape, racism, forced marriages, bondage, forced labor, men, women, and children were captive and endured horrific journeys on slave ships, commodities to be bought, sold, and exploited)... Jim Crow, reconstruction, etc.
Author Bettye Kearse, African American, a descendant of a white President, now a retired pediatrician...did almost thirty years of research tracing facts from eight generations in her family...
generations after generations.....giving us stories of ancestors and descendants from President James Madison, forth President of the United States...a Founding Father of our nation.
Bettye grew up hearing stories from her mother. She said her mother was like the ancient storytellers of West Africa. Her mother wanted her children and grandchildren to see their ancestors, and read their words.... so with the help of her great grandfather, her mother gathered up letters, documents, and photographs so the offsprings would have a more direct experience of how slaves and slave owners influenced who they were.
Before Bettye’s mother’s died, she gave her a memorabilia box filled with these letters and documents....then sent Bettye out on a journey to unveil as much truth as she could find. Bettye was given the family responsibility as the ‘family - African matriarch .... the ‘griotte’...( oral historian)....(stepping into her mother’s shoes)...
And...WOW....HATS OFF TO BETTYE! Her years of research and perseverance—( blood, sweat, and tears research through obstacles and painful history)...was remarkable.
The storytelling...characters ( past, and present), the traveling, the harsh realities — were gorgeous/ impressively poetically written — and so ‘personal’.... ( some happy moments too, so not all was bleak), but it’s real—and raw—and the historical UGLY PARTS ARE ‘ALL-OF-OUR’ HISTORY..
FOR As US TO EXPERIENCE....( to learn, grow, and make the right choices in our present days)....
This book is another GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO BEGIN TO TELL TRUTHFUL AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY....( all the things we were not taught in school).
Some of the books most devastating moments were the horrific conditions on slave ships. We learn about the character, Mandy ( and her stories are told in the present - adding a gripping emotional essence). Mandy was the first woman abducted ....and we as the reader are ( well, heartbroken for her).
One of my favorite times was when the family was in Oakland, California. She didn’t mention the names of the schools in Oakland...but I know them all....and started to wonder if Bettye Kearse and I had ever passed each other.
I never found out....but Bettye brought tears to my eyes listening to her talk on a YouTube.
Between reading this book....then listening to a couple of YouTube’s with Bettye talking....I was especially moved by Bettye’s diligence —
her YEARS of of dedication research ..... in order to write the best book - truthful - that she could.
A+
POWERFULLY ENGAGING!
Thanks to Angela ( read her review), who first brought this book to my attention. I knew ‘instantly’ I wanted and ‘had’ to read this.
November 20, 2020
’When I was a girl, I didn’t know people stole people. I used to sneak away from my village and go to the edge of the ocean, my ocean. I was very young and a little foolish then. I thought that huge body of water belonged to me. A big, knotty tree with twisted branches stood alone on a hill, where it watched over my village on one side and the water on the other. My favorite spot was a cove hidden among tall boulders. I went there whenever I could. All kinds of reptiles, insects and sea plants clung to rocks, slipped into cracks, or hid in shadows to get away from the sun and wind pounding the beach. Sometimes, I took the small creatures home, but usually, I left them where they were so they’d be there whenever I came back...When the sand drew away with the water, I dug my toes in further, because I could feel it tugging my feet, trying to take me with it too. But I thought I was going to stay on that land forever.’
Bettye Kearse imagines the thoughts and words of Mandy, the original member of her family to be stolen, as a young, innocent child in Africa, and sold as a slave in America. Their collective African-American Mother, in a sense. She remembers the words shared through the history of her family in America. ’Always remember - you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president.’ Those words would prove to be one of her incentives for writing this book, along with words from her mother, words shared when her mother decided to hand over the box to her. The box that contained every documentation of their family that they had managed to hold onto through the years. When Kearse asked her mother why she was handing them over then, her mother replied simply ’I want to give you plenty of time to write the book.
Having spent years and years tracing, confirming my own family’s genealogy, I can attest that it is often frustrating but also rewarding when you manage to find and prove another link. While Kearse had the advantage of the story that had been shared through the years, that they were descended from President Madison, finding the proof was another story.
'Through oral history and family keepsakes, our African ancestors are not mere phantoms. They are alive in the stories told from generation to generation, in the letters and documents kept in family Bibles, in photographs inside old cardboard boxes, and in slide-show images on makeshift screens. They are alive in the ambitions, perceptions, beliefs, and values of their descendants, the people who are the evidence of what happened to the stolen Africans who survived. I would become the griotte for those families as well.'
Beautifully written, I especially loved the passages viewed from Mandy’s point of view. Although at times they were gut wrenching to read, they also felt completely honest in both tone and what we know of this time period in history. A history that continues to haunt this country, and in turn hurt all of us.
Many thanks for my copy provided by Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity and Houghton Miller Harcourt Publishers
November 24, 2025
The title of this book intrigued me from the beginning. I thought this book would be about the black slaves on James Madison's Montpelier plantation and what their lives were like during Madison's lifetime or what happened to them after his death. The author is apparently descended from a female black slave who had a sexual relationship with James Madison. I am just recently learning more about James Madison and I have never heard of him having sexual relations with his female slaves. It is possible because many men did this to increase their own slave population, but I think it is unlikely. I seriously doubt the author's claim of her lineage.
This book is about the author's ancestors throughout history and how she was chosen as the family member of her generation who kept her ancestors' memories alive, from Africa to Virginia and beyond. I enjoyed learning about her family's history, how the family preserved their memories across many generations and the author's personal travels to seek out more information about her ancestors.
This book is about the author's ancestors throughout history and how she was chosen as the family member of her generation who kept her ancestors' memories alive, from Africa to Virginia and beyond. I enjoyed learning about her family's history, how the family preserved their memories across many generations and the author's personal travels to seek out more information about her ancestors.
February 29, 2020
The Other Madisons is a fascinating book about a family's secret history. When Bettye Kearse's mother hands over a box containing the family records, she tells Bettye that she is now the family's griotte, a West African tradition that means she is now the keeper of her family's history.
Kearse has always been told that she's the descendant of slaves and a president. Family legend says that President James Madison fathered a child with his slave, and Kearse's family is descended from that child, a slave named Jim who was sold by Madison's wife Dolley. While the descent from Madison is a source of pride for some in the family, Kearse is much more interested in finding her lost slave ancestors, and so she begins a journey into the past.
This is a really powerful, moving book. Kearse moves back in time, searching for her lost ancestors. The first of her line is Mandy, a girl who was kidnapped from West Africa and sold into slavery. She ends up on the Madison plantation, where she is the grandmother of Madison's son Jim. There are short interludes between chapters written in the voice of Mandy. These passages are often brutal, as they tell the story of Mandy's capture and life as a slave. These interludes worked well. Mandy can't be found anywhere in official history, but Kearse gives her a voice in the book.
Kearse's research takes her into some dark places. While others in her family referred to relationships between female slaves and masters by euphemisms, Kearse isn't afraid to call it what it was, rape. And it's hard to trace genealogy, because slaves aren't listed by name in plantation records; they're just numbers (that detail is particularly chilling). She visits Ghana to see where it all began, and she finds a measure of piece visiting the slave graveyard at the Madison estate.
I recommend this book for anyone who's interested in American history, genealogy, or learning more about slavery and its effects on families. It's an important story about a terrible stain on U.S. history.
I received an ARC from the publisher through Amazon Vine.
Kearse has always been told that she's the descendant of slaves and a president. Family legend says that President James Madison fathered a child with his slave, and Kearse's family is descended from that child, a slave named Jim who was sold by Madison's wife Dolley. While the descent from Madison is a source of pride for some in the family, Kearse is much more interested in finding her lost slave ancestors, and so she begins a journey into the past.
This is a really powerful, moving book. Kearse moves back in time, searching for her lost ancestors. The first of her line is Mandy, a girl who was kidnapped from West Africa and sold into slavery. She ends up on the Madison plantation, where she is the grandmother of Madison's son Jim. There are short interludes between chapters written in the voice of Mandy. These passages are often brutal, as they tell the story of Mandy's capture and life as a slave. These interludes worked well. Mandy can't be found anywhere in official history, but Kearse gives her a voice in the book.
Kearse's research takes her into some dark places. While others in her family referred to relationships between female slaves and masters by euphemisms, Kearse isn't afraid to call it what it was, rape. And it's hard to trace genealogy, because slaves aren't listed by name in plantation records; they're just numbers (that detail is particularly chilling). She visits Ghana to see where it all began, and she finds a measure of piece visiting the slave graveyard at the Madison estate.
I recommend this book for anyone who's interested in American history, genealogy, or learning more about slavery and its effects on families. It's an important story about a terrible stain on U.S. history.
I received an ARC from the publisher through Amazon Vine.
October 6, 2020
I’m reading a biography of every president. I am frustrated by how the authors gloss over our founding fathers and beyond opened slaves. Even if they acknowledge that they owned slaves and had sex with them, biographers still won’t call it rape. I read this book as a counterbalance and it is excellent. Mrs. Kearse grapples openly over knowing her ancestors were raped in order for her to be born as well as the racism she faces, pointing out the hypocrisy of that racism. Africans didn’t even want to BE slaves. They were stolen from their own lives. And yet blacks are hated for...existing? I appreciated this book immensely. It’s truly a must-read for anyone who cares about American history.
November 12, 2020
It is amazing what Kearse knew from family stories about her family history and even more startling what she learned from her research. A terrific alternate history and memoir.
I borrowed the book from my public library.
I borrowed the book from my public library.
Read
July 19, 2021I have seriously mixed feelings regarding this book. I admire the author's tenacity and passion for her family's history. She has travelled thousands of miles to dig into archives and stand in the places she believes her ancestors might have stood. She has discovered and documented an impressive archive. Kearse is also not afraid to expose her personal emotions in this book. She describes how it feels to think about what happened to her enslaved ancestors, and it is a feeling that not everyone can fully appreciate. She is deeply tied to her family's past in a way that many people today are not.
On the other hand, the author makes harsh accusations of incest and rape against James Madison and his father that are found in no other history that I have read. She admits that her only basis for these accusations are her oral family history, which she has tried unsuccessfully to verify through DNA and documentation. Even when the author responds to the question, 'What if you found out James Madison wasn't your ancestor?' She talks about how it wouldn't change anything about her family, their perseverance, and what they have achieved. She in no way addresses the fact that it would mean she has been defaming one of America's most admired historical figures. I've tried to appreciate that she so thoroughly believes this version of events that she doesn't see anything else as a possibility, but I'm uncomfortable with how this is presented as fact.
This book wasn't what I was expecting, but it was a unique, thought-provoking read.
On the other hand, the author makes harsh accusations of incest and rape against James Madison and his father that are found in no other history that I have read. She admits that her only basis for these accusations are her oral family history, which she has tried unsuccessfully to verify through DNA and documentation. Even when the author responds to the question, 'What if you found out James Madison wasn't your ancestor?' She talks about how it wouldn't change anything about her family, their perseverance, and what they have achieved. She in no way addresses the fact that it would mean she has been defaming one of America's most admired historical figures. I've tried to appreciate that she so thoroughly believes this version of events that she doesn't see anything else as a possibility, but I'm uncomfortable with how this is presented as fact.
This book wasn't what I was expecting, but it was a unique, thought-provoking read.
August 3, 2020
I'm related to President Madison too (3rd cousin 7x removed), so that's what initially drew me to this book. The author inherited the role of griotte - keeping the family history alive - and she wanted to add to and validate the memories of her ancestors. She visited the Madison home, Montpelier, where her ancestors were slaves. She tries to imagine the life of Coreen, born from a relationship of her slave mother Mandy, kidnapped from Africa, and the father of James Madison. Coreen herself was violated by her master, the future president.
A throw-away line, that she bought a guidebook "in the remainders section of a bookstore," grew in importance later when she traveled overseas. The book talked of the stockades where slaves had been chained, and she wanted to see them with her own eyes. Upon traveling there, they were gone! Erased as if the slave trade didn't happen. A newer guide book didn't talk about them.
I mention her disappointment in response to the current (as of this writing) destruction of memorials by Black Lives Matter. This disappointment will grow exponentially in the future.
This book is well-written and hard to put down. I highly recommend it.
"Always remember," the family credo says, "you're a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president."
A throw-away line, that she bought a guidebook "in the remainders section of a bookstore," grew in importance later when she traveled overseas. The book talked of the stockades where slaves had been chained, and she wanted to see them with her own eyes. Upon traveling there, they were gone! Erased as if the slave trade didn't happen. A newer guide book didn't talk about them.
I mention her disappointment in response to the current (as of this writing) destruction of memorials by Black Lives Matter. This disappointment will grow exponentially in the future.
This book is well-written and hard to put down. I highly recommend it.
"Always remember," the family credo says, "you're a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president."
March 29, 2020
This book was a very interesting history of the author's family and her personal memoir, but I am not convinced, without DNA data, that they are descended from President Madison. I read this book because I live in northern Virginia and have visited Montpelier at least twice. We often drive through Orange County while traveling to southern Virginia. I am, therefore, somewhat familiar with the area. Why am I so skeptical? Dr. Kearse's family story reminds me of my own mother's family. There is a family legend that my great-great grandfather was a Spaniard (notice my surname). I found some genealogical records, but they were incomplete and didn't turn the myth into reality. Finally, I gave up and decided to spend the money to have a DNA test done. Guess what? No Spanish blood! We are almost 100% indigenous. The Spanish surname came from the order the colonial government gave to the natives to give up their indigenous names and take up Spanish names. As in Dr. Kearse's family, I believe if you pass on a story long enough and repeat it often enough, it does become reality--without actual data: paper records or scientific.
August 13, 2020
A wonderful family narrative that shows how intertwined America’s founding is with slavery. James Madison has always been my “favorite” founding father, and this book showed a different side of his family—the conflict of these men wanting America to be free while owning, selling and keeping people as property. Mostly, it is a story about family, about history, about keeping the voices of the forgotten alive. The author puts her heart and soul into the narrative. It shows how recent slavery was in this country, and how its impact will last for centuries.
May 29, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspects of this book, but didn't find the family ties especially important without DNA or other proof. Interesting map of the generations and who belonged to whom according to the author and stories passed down the Madison family for centuries.
The book is well written and Bettye Kearse certainly has done her research into attempting to prove there is a lineage. Frankly the more I read, the less I cared. People are people no matter what color their skin.
The book is well written and Bettye Kearse certainly has done her research into attempting to prove there is a lineage. Frankly the more I read, the less I cared. People are people no matter what color their skin.
July 28, 2020
The Library took it back before I finished it. And I don't really care. Really good concept, some fascinating and extremely disturbing passages. Unfortunately, the writing pace was far too slow for me. I wanted to like it but I couldn't.
October 31, 2020
This is a primarily a combination of memoir, family history and some of the history of slavery. In addition there are italicized sections the author has taken some literary license with in order to convey possible thoughts, etc of Mandy, one of her ancestors who was kidnapped and brutally brought over to the US as a slave. As Kearse readily points out, due to some unwanted publicity, she was unable to get any DNA proof from a Madison male-line descendant, so if you are the sort of reader who requires this, then this book isn't for you. I, for one, don't. While I can't know 100 percent, of course, there is something to be said for oral history and the passing down of family information from parent to child over generations, and that can't be summarily discounted just because of a lack of DNA. As for presidents who owned slaves, I would think that some, if not many, of them did indeed rape women slaves at some point in their lives, so it's not a question of whether there are African Americans who are descended from presidents, is it? Rape is about power as well as sex and some men enjoy the power of controlling women sexually, including in rape. I would think that slave owners would be more prone to this type of behaviour than the average person.
I have read many more books on slavery in my life than show up on my GR shelves, so I can't say that I learned anything startlingly new on that end of it, although the horror of it never fades. But I do find genealogy interesting, and was impressed by all of the travel and research that Kearse did, both to help understand her family history and get a better sense of it, as well as to help her prepare to write the book her mother wanted her to write.
I have read many more books on slavery in my life than show up on my GR shelves, so I can't say that I learned anything startlingly new on that end of it, although the horror of it never fades. But I do find genealogy interesting, and was impressed by all of the travel and research that Kearse did, both to help understand her family history and get a better sense of it, as well as to help her prepare to write the book her mother wanted her to write.
October 26, 2020
Beautifully Written!!!
I found this quite by chance in the new books section of the Falmouth, MA Library when visiting for a week. Sensitively told, deeply felt and impeccably researched, this book is a paean to the historically nameless slaves who propped up a man such as James Madison and his family and allowed their comfortable, wealthy lifestyle to incubate the great man's contributions to our country. It does take a village and I especially appreciated how the author also pointed out that a huge support team of friends, fellow writers and publishing staff helped give birth to this book. It is an important representative story of how each of us has in us the sum of all our ancestors and that their stories are interesting and wonderful too.
I found this quite by chance in the new books section of the Falmouth, MA Library when visiting for a week. Sensitively told, deeply felt and impeccably researched, this book is a paean to the historically nameless slaves who propped up a man such as James Madison and his family and allowed their comfortable, wealthy lifestyle to incubate the great man's contributions to our country. It does take a village and I especially appreciated how the author also pointed out that a huge support team of friends, fellow writers and publishing staff helped give birth to this book. It is an important representative story of how each of us has in us the sum of all our ancestors and that their stories are interesting and wonderful too.
March 17, 2021
This rich, sensory memoir begins and ends with the voice of Mandy, Bettye's enslaved ancestor stolen from Ghana. Kidnapped from her home, Mandy is crammed into a slave ship. The reader feels the splinters in her hands in the hold of the ship, smells the reek of urine and feces, and feels the horrific chains binding her.
When she gets to Montpelier, James Madison's Virginia plantation, Mandy's agonies have only just begun. Sexually assaulted by James Madison senior, she gives birth to their daughter Coreen. James Madison's son, James junior, is attracted to Coreen and he takes her for himself--despite the fact that she is his half-sister. (Bettye explains these complicated relationships in this interview.)
Having grown up in the sixties, Bettye is uncomfortable with her mother's unflinching pride in being a descendent of the Madisons. President James Madison had owned and abused her ancestors! How could she be proud of that?
Knowing that she was challenging parts of her family history that her mother hadn't, Bettye wonders what she can contribute to the family legacy. Though hesitant, Bettye determines to uncover the truths about her ancestors and becomes the first person to write the family history down.
Bettye was very close to her grandfather, and the book is full of their relationship. He frequently told her mother, "Our white ancestors laid the foundation of this country, but our dark-skinned ancestors built it." Another time he commented, "Racism is just another challenge, and challenges make us strong."
Bettye's research into her past takes her to Lagos, Portugal. What she finds rocks her to the core. The people who live in this tourist town are oblivious to the slave trade that had begun there in 1441. "There wasn't one morsel of information about slave stockades. The erasure was complete."
Bettye visits the Elmina Castle in Ghana and imagines what it was like for the enslaved men and women who were stolen, separated from their families, and kept in bondage. Her description of these atrocious events is complete. 150-300 women stood pressed together in "rooms of deep sorrow." They were marched through a "gate of no return" to a slave ship. "The ocean wiped away their footprints."
When Bettye comes back to the states, she visits the National Black Wax Museum in Baltimore. On board a replica of a slave ship, Bettye puts herself into Mandy's horrific experiences of possibly being raped, sick, and close to death. She wonders if she would have made it to the New World.
There is much more to this book: Bettye's conversations with her mother over the nature of the sexual relationships between owners and slaves (her mother called it "visiting"), Bettye's first encounter with Jim Crow when she was five-years-old, the racism she still experiences, Bettye's pride for her family and other enslaved Blacks, how she feels holding the picture of her great-great-great grandmother--the first ancestor she could see.
This is an important book and one you won't quickly forget.
IN HER OWN WORDS
In one of our conversations, Bettye told me that the hardest part of writing this memoir was what to do with the "rich material" she had received from her mother. Initially, Bettye wrote the book the way her mother wanted, as a record of their family stories. Then, she realized that her story wasn't unique to her and a mentor recommended that she write it as fiction; but that came out "flat." Her mentor then suggested Bettye write a memoir. Inserting her own feelings was difficult, but that process breathed life into the narrative. "It was very rewarding to discover my purpose by writing this as a memoir and realizing that I had a message for others."
When she gets to Montpelier, James Madison's Virginia plantation, Mandy's agonies have only just begun. Sexually assaulted by James Madison senior, she gives birth to their daughter Coreen. James Madison's son, James junior, is attracted to Coreen and he takes her for himself--despite the fact that she is his half-sister. (Bettye explains these complicated relationships in this interview.)
Having grown up in the sixties, Bettye is uncomfortable with her mother's unflinching pride in being a descendent of the Madisons. President James Madison had owned and abused her ancestors! How could she be proud of that?
Knowing that she was challenging parts of her family history that her mother hadn't, Bettye wonders what she can contribute to the family legacy. Though hesitant, Bettye determines to uncover the truths about her ancestors and becomes the first person to write the family history down.
Bettye was very close to her grandfather, and the book is full of their relationship. He frequently told her mother, "Our white ancestors laid the foundation of this country, but our dark-skinned ancestors built it." Another time he commented, "Racism is just another challenge, and challenges make us strong."
Bettye's research into her past takes her to Lagos, Portugal. What she finds rocks her to the core. The people who live in this tourist town are oblivious to the slave trade that had begun there in 1441. "There wasn't one morsel of information about slave stockades. The erasure was complete."
Bettye visits the Elmina Castle in Ghana and imagines what it was like for the enslaved men and women who were stolen, separated from their families, and kept in bondage. Her description of these atrocious events is complete. 150-300 women stood pressed together in "rooms of deep sorrow." They were marched through a "gate of no return" to a slave ship. "The ocean wiped away their footprints."
When Bettye comes back to the states, she visits the National Black Wax Museum in Baltimore. On board a replica of a slave ship, Bettye puts herself into Mandy's horrific experiences of possibly being raped, sick, and close to death. She wonders if she would have made it to the New World.
There is much more to this book: Bettye's conversations with her mother over the nature of the sexual relationships between owners and slaves (her mother called it "visiting"), Bettye's first encounter with Jim Crow when she was five-years-old, the racism she still experiences, Bettye's pride for her family and other enslaved Blacks, how she feels holding the picture of her great-great-great grandmother--the first ancestor she could see.
This is an important book and one you won't quickly forget.
IN HER OWN WORDS
In one of our conversations, Bettye told me that the hardest part of writing this memoir was what to do with the "rich material" she had received from her mother. Initially, Bettye wrote the book the way her mother wanted, as a record of their family stories. Then, she realized that her story wasn't unique to her and a mentor recommended that she write it as fiction; but that came out "flat." Her mentor then suggested Bettye write a memoir. Inserting her own feelings was difficult, but that process breathed life into the narrative. "It was very rewarding to discover my purpose by writing this as a memoir and realizing that I had a message for others."
June 30, 2023
review tomorrow because it's half past midnight and I have to get up early but I just didn't want to stop reading
EDIT: here's the review, let's get into it. Before I say anything about the actual content or the writing style I want to commend the author for the insane amount of work that went into this book. Not just the research part, which was probably already hard enough but also learning how to rework it into a book, taking writing workshops, interpreting the findings, etc. and to do it not out of a general passion for history and writing but out of love for your family is really admirable. The end result is great; it reads as Dr. Kearse has never done anything else.
I appreciated her adding the actual process of researching into the book. I'm a bit of a history nerd (just casually tho, don't ask me anything), so these parts were very impressive to me. It's admirable how willing Dr. Kearse was to put herself into her book; it created a very vulnerable, honest family history which is unlike most nonfiction I've read before. I will think about the conversation she had with her mom over the phone in the "visiting" chapter for a long time because it reminded me so much of the conversations I've had with my own mother.
The reason I'm not giving it the full five stars is the later Mandy chapters. I understand why they are there and I can imagine they were extremely important to write for the author on a personal level, but I think the book as a piece of historical research would have been more successful without them.
EDIT: here's the review, let's get into it. Before I say anything about the actual content or the writing style I want to commend the author for the insane amount of work that went into this book. Not just the research part, which was probably already hard enough but also learning how to rework it into a book, taking writing workshops, interpreting the findings, etc. and to do it not out of a general passion for history and writing but out of love for your family is really admirable. The end result is great; it reads as Dr. Kearse has never done anything else.
I appreciated her adding the actual process of researching into the book. I'm a bit of a history nerd (just casually tho, don't ask me anything), so these parts were very impressive to me. It's admirable how willing Dr. Kearse was to put herself into her book; it created a very vulnerable, honest family history which is unlike most nonfiction I've read before. I will think about the conversation she had with her mom over the phone in the "visiting" chapter for a long time because it reminded me so much of the conversations I've had with my own mother.
The reason I'm not giving it the full five stars is the later Mandy chapters. I understand why they are there and I can imagine they were extremely important to write for the author on a personal level, but I think the book as a piece of historical research would have been more successful without them.
March 3, 2021
This was interesting in some ways but not what I thought it would be.
May 12, 2020
Upon Bettye Kearse falls the mantel of *griotte,* keeper of her family's oral history since the days of a maternal forbear (called Mandy) who first came as a slave from Ghana to Virginia. Kearse ambitiously and doggedly spent twenty years visiting family historical sites and researching and imagining the lives of Mandy and Mandy's descendants.
Like Thomas Jefferson taking up with Sally Hemings, the enslaved half-sister of his first wife Martha, according to Kearse's family's oral history, James Madison one-upped his mentor by fathering a child with his own slave half-sister (barf!). So not only rape but also incest.
I was dying for what the DNA could tell us, but the white male descendant of Madison who could have helped nail all this down backed out of giving a sample. Grrr.... I do hope Kearse and all her family will do the DNA testing anyhow, since those companies will inform you of all sorts of far-flung relatives, and that in itself would be thrilling.
Kearse writes for history's sake but also as a personal journey and a family memoir. My favorite parts were the history and travels and research. I was less into the author's fictionalized envisionings and her own personal emotional and physical responses to various locations, but I understand those might interest her family members.
Like Thomas Jefferson taking up with Sally Hemings, the enslaved half-sister of his first wife Martha, according to Kearse's family's oral history, James Madison one-upped his mentor by fathering a child with his own slave half-sister (barf!). So not only rape but also incest.
I was dying for what the DNA could tell us, but the white male descendant of Madison who could have helped nail all this down backed out of giving a sample. Grrr.... I do hope Kearse and all her family will do the DNA testing anyhow, since those companies will inform you of all sorts of far-flung relatives, and that in itself would be thrilling.
Kearse writes for history's sake but also as a personal journey and a family memoir. My favorite parts were the history and travels and research. I was less into the author's fictionalized envisionings and her own personal emotional and physical responses to various locations, but I understand those might interest her family members.
January 23, 2021
The Other Madisons is the powerful story of the descendants of James Madison, Jr., former President of the United States and his Black half-sister, Coreen. It follows ten generations of African-Americans who descended from a young woman identified only as "Mandy" who was captured from her home in West Africa (probably Ghana), who survived the torturous Middle Passage across the Atlantic Ocean to Virginia, and who, through her descendants, insured the survival of a family history passed down through the generations by a series of griots, oral historians / storytellers in the West African tradition. Author Bettye Kearse is the most recent of those griottes, whom she describes on her website [ https://www.bettyekearse.com/griots-a... ]. Her written memoir and family history offers a compelling and often heart-breaking narrative of a part of our American story that has too often been minimized in our history books. Highly recommended.
March 13, 2021
I don't have the words to adequately describe my feelings for this book. . . It's a book that every American should read. . . It's a book that needs to be taught in school. . . It's a book that once again shows beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Black folks are the REAL Americans we should be celebrating; they are NOT as Madison called them, "Other People." Without them, this country wouldn't exist. . . A heartfelt thank you to Ms Kearse for sharing her family with the World & giving credit where credit is due. Mandy & her descendants will not be forgotten. We owe them everything.
May 24, 2022
I read this book for my libraries non-fiction book club.
Wow, what a story! I've always read of the stories about Thomas Jefferson and his relationships with his slaves so it was interesting to read about another prominent family. This also reads like fiction so at times I forgot this was Bettye's actually family. A must read for anyone interested in their family history and how we celebrate it.
Wow, what a story! I've always read of the stories about Thomas Jefferson and his relationships with his slaves so it was interesting to read about another prominent family. This also reads like fiction so at times I forgot this was Bettye's actually family. A must read for anyone interested in their family history and how we celebrate it.
August 23, 2020
Kearse traces her family history back to Presdent James Madison and an enslaved woman, Coreen, who was apparently his half sister. In her journey to learn her family history, Kearse contends with the abuses inherent in slavery which in this instance includes rape and incest.
Even more evidence of the hypocrisy of the founding fathers.
Even more evidence of the hypocrisy of the founding fathers.
September 3, 2020
Actually 3 1/2 stars. Fascinating and moving dive into family history and how that history impacts the present. The sections written in Mandy's voice are particularly evocative and effective. An important and much-needed addition to a balanced understanding of American history, race relations, and the founding fathers.
December 27, 2024
I apologise to Mrs. Kearse, I admire her dedication and the power of their family traditions, I find this book to be quite well-written and many chapters of it very eye-opening, but I can't rate it any higher than two stars, because the problem I have with this book seems to reflect a bigger issue with people's approach to history nowadays.
The author seems to be very certain that the story is true, she presents her family's oral history as facts and even in interviews she is often introduced as a descendant of James Madison. I found some articles claiming that this family has proofs of the story passed down in their family being true. I've therefore done a research of my own and to my surprise, I couldn't find a single reliable proof, neither in the book nor anywhere else on the internet.
I believe the story is false for the following reasons:
1) Genetics. According to the 2017 article in the Washington post, there have been two instances of DNA testing. One was an automosal DNA test done with a descendant of one of JM's siblings. This test didn't show any genetic connection, but this doesn't have to mean anything, because their shared ancestor would be 8 generations back and the chance they wouldn't share any DNA is quite high (The chance the test would show a connection between 8th cousins should be around 15-20%, so likely not). The other DNA testing case is way more telling. Kearse's male cousins (the ones who would be JM's direct descendants in the male line and share the Madison surname) have a West-African Y-DNA haplogroup. The Y chromosome passes from fathers to sons unchanged, and therefore this would mean that Madison would also have to have a West African haplogroup. How probable is that? The geneticist working on the case, Jamie Wilson, said this for the Washington Post: "It would be an anomaly, but not impossible". But how likely would it be for a family from the British Isles to have a haplogroup from West Africa? I only could find information about few, isolated cases in the Southern Europe. Why would a family, who according to a genetic test has undoubtedly ancestors from West Africa, get their West African Y-DNA haplogroup from an Englishman? Plus I did some digging and according to a newsletter from 2008 of President Madison's family descendants, their Y-DNA (from descendants of Madison's brother) belongs to a haplogroup ,"common to people of North European and Nordic descent". This DNA matched to their relatives in England, but wouldn't match to the DNA of "the President's black family". According to Mrs. Kearse, the white Madisons were unwilling to submit to the Y-DNA test, in the article it's said they directed them to a lab which contained their DNA. Kearse's genetic consultant said they can't go with that, because there would be no proof the DNA really belongs to the Madisons. Fair enough, but even if they change their mind someday and the DNA by some odd chance matches, it wouldn't prove that their ancestor was the president, because all of his brothers and male cousins from his father's side had the same Y chromosome, there is no reliable secondary evidence that would point to one person and:
2) It's quite possible that "the father of the constitution" was not even able to have children. Obviously, this cannot be proven and can be complicated, but his wife had two children from her previous marriage, a year and two respectively before she married him and they never had kids together. JM also had a lot of medical issues.
3) History. The author keeps emphasizing the importance of oral history, but I can't help the feeling that a distinction needs to be made between real oral history and family myths. Historians need to take oral history with a pinch of salt especially when there's no documentation to back it up, people's memory's not perfect, sometimes they outright make things up to look more interesting...I definitely don't think the author is lying, I'm convinced their family believes the stories, but it's nothing unusual that an ancestor would make up or heavily alter some stories. Especially in those cases when it connects them to somebody famous. I feel like the author found something else in the stories, connection to her ancestors, horrible realities of slavery...that's what makes the book worth reading, but I higly doubt the stories are true. Yet in many articles they are presented as facts and not looked at even a little critically.
Let's break it down a little: According to their family history, her ancestor Mandy was enslaved at the Madisons' family plantation (there is no record of a Mandy in Madison Sr.'s tax records or shoe orders, even though she would be there at the time. Slaves were stripped of a right to identity, so the records can be scarce, but there are multiple lists with many names and Mandy doesn't appear once), she worked on a cotton field (the plantation was a tobacco one) and she had a child with JM's father- the daughter, Coreen (so she would be JM's half sister, also no record of her by the way) had a child with Madison Jr., a son named Jim (there are records of slaves named James, Jim or Jemmy, but that's a relatively common name). He also could have been named Shadrack, because the author found out about an ancestor named Shadrack. He was born in 1792, but also after JM realised he can't have children with his wife and he wanted to have his own children (they got married in 1794 and the realisiation would take him some time, I guess, plus they lived in Philadelphia until 1796 and not on the plantation, but yes, the years probably wouldn't be exact in oral history. Plus why would he want to have a child he could never acknowledge and never take care for?). When Jim (or Shadrack) was a baby, JM's wife's niece Victoria who was the same age came to live with them (his wife never had any niece named Victoria and I couldn't find any information about any niece coming to live with them as a baby, there surely would have been some records or mentions in correspondence). Jim then went to Washington with the Madisons and he and Victoria fell in love. Jim saved the Americam flag from the White House in the War of 1812 (there aren't any records of that, Paul Jennings doesn't mention it in his memoir, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen). Dolley Madison then sold Jim, because she found out about his love for Victoria (the love story frankly sounds to me as if it was made up for a story). I'm also quite confused about the timelime here. There is a document about Emmanuel Madison, who was supposed to be Jim's son, JM's grandson, it's a will that would put his birth year in 1805. Again, the year is probably not precise, but if Jim was born already during JM's marriage or even in 1792, it would mean that he was at most 13 when his son was born. Also according to the oral history, Jim was sold away as a teenager after the War of 1812 (which was in 1815, so if he was born in 1792, he would be 22/23), but his son wasn't born at the Madison's plantation, but elsewhere in 1805?
To sum it up, if the story is true it would have to mean that: a) Jim was born way earlier and around 1805 already wasn't at the plantation b) both Coreen and Mandy are missing from the tax records, but they did exist (and their names could be different?) c) The part about the love story with the niece is fake, because such person didn't exist and the oldest niece he could have gotten in contact with was 2 in 1815 d) the only true part of the oral history is that JM had a son who was an ancestor of this family, which I don't think is true because of paragraphs 1 and 2
4) The oral history is lacking as well. According to the 2017 Washington Post article, when Mrs. Kearse reunited with her cousins who shared Emmanuel as their ancestor, they didn't know the story and asked for documentary proofs. This means it's likely the story was created later and in one line of the family after the supposed JM's grandon's death
Why would this matter? It's not my intention to destroy people's beliefs, the author is most likely not going to read this and I'm sure that if she did, it wouldn't change her mind anyway. People have the right to believe what they want to and I'm not saying I have to be right in this, but I have done some research and unlike the author, I can be objective because this matter is not personal to me. I couldn't find a single fact that would support this story, but plenty of facts that make it highly unlikely, the Y-DNA (if both information, from the WP article- the geneticist's statement and the family's newsletter are correct and I don't see why they wouldn't be) even practically disproves it.
Yet many articles or reviews about this book don't even question the story's credibility. A lot of them automatically proclaim the author as a descendant of James Madison, ignoring that there is nothing that proves or could prove it. Some of them even include parts of the story that are easily proven to be false (niece Victoria) and present them as real historical facts. I've seen comments on Instagram by people expressing outrage that this story is not in the history books and even a teacher of History saying she needs to include this in her lessons, calling Kearse "a biographer of James Madison".
This book is valuable for a lot of things, the author's research about the evils of slavery (something that needs to be researched and talked about) the way in which she is able to convey emotions, her personal journey, the power of family folklore...but it's not history in any way. Any historian could tell you that they cannot prioritize a story passed in one family over written records and nothing in any documents- tax records, memoirs, correspondence supports any part of this story.
Why is there so little criticism of the fact that a story with zero proof is presented as a historical truth? Well, I think it's rooted in the fact that this book describes real evils of slavery and it's true that many of America's "founding fathers", including JM, men who created the first modern democracy, owned slaves and had never freed them. It's unbeliavable that the United States didn't abolish slavery until 1863 and this inhuman, barbaric practise had brought great peril to many, robbing them of their rights and their lives.
But history is a science, the truth matters and everything needs to be supported by evidence. It shouldn't be twisted and it should be our primary goal to get to the truth even if it doesn't suit our narrative. We can and should talk about slavery and the lives of slaves without having to believe an unconfirmed and highly unlikely story.
The author seems to be very certain that the story is true, she presents her family's oral history as facts and even in interviews she is often introduced as a descendant of James Madison. I found some articles claiming that this family has proofs of the story passed down in their family being true. I've therefore done a research of my own and to my surprise, I couldn't find a single reliable proof, neither in the book nor anywhere else on the internet.
I believe the story is false for the following reasons:
1) Genetics. According to the 2017 article in the Washington post, there have been two instances of DNA testing. One was an automosal DNA test done with a descendant of one of JM's siblings. This test didn't show any genetic connection, but this doesn't have to mean anything, because their shared ancestor would be 8 generations back and the chance they wouldn't share any DNA is quite high (The chance the test would show a connection between 8th cousins should be around 15-20%, so likely not). The other DNA testing case is way more telling. Kearse's male cousins (the ones who would be JM's direct descendants in the male line and share the Madison surname) have a West-African Y-DNA haplogroup. The Y chromosome passes from fathers to sons unchanged, and therefore this would mean that Madison would also have to have a West African haplogroup. How probable is that? The geneticist working on the case, Jamie Wilson, said this for the Washington Post: "It would be an anomaly, but not impossible". But how likely would it be for a family from the British Isles to have a haplogroup from West Africa? I only could find information about few, isolated cases in the Southern Europe. Why would a family, who according to a genetic test has undoubtedly ancestors from West Africa, get their West African Y-DNA haplogroup from an Englishman? Plus I did some digging and according to a newsletter from 2008 of President Madison's family descendants, their Y-DNA (from descendants of Madison's brother) belongs to a haplogroup ,"common to people of North European and Nordic descent". This DNA matched to their relatives in England, but wouldn't match to the DNA of "the President's black family". According to Mrs. Kearse, the white Madisons were unwilling to submit to the Y-DNA test, in the article it's said they directed them to a lab which contained their DNA. Kearse's genetic consultant said they can't go with that, because there would be no proof the DNA really belongs to the Madisons. Fair enough, but even if they change their mind someday and the DNA by some odd chance matches, it wouldn't prove that their ancestor was the president, because all of his brothers and male cousins from his father's side had the same Y chromosome, there is no reliable secondary evidence that would point to one person and:
2) It's quite possible that "the father of the constitution" was not even able to have children. Obviously, this cannot be proven and can be complicated, but his wife had two children from her previous marriage, a year and two respectively before she married him and they never had kids together. JM also had a lot of medical issues.
3) History. The author keeps emphasizing the importance of oral history, but I can't help the feeling that a distinction needs to be made between real oral history and family myths. Historians need to take oral history with a pinch of salt especially when there's no documentation to back it up, people's memory's not perfect, sometimes they outright make things up to look more interesting...I definitely don't think the author is lying, I'm convinced their family believes the stories, but it's nothing unusual that an ancestor would make up or heavily alter some stories. Especially in those cases when it connects them to somebody famous. I feel like the author found something else in the stories, connection to her ancestors, horrible realities of slavery...that's what makes the book worth reading, but I higly doubt the stories are true. Yet in many articles they are presented as facts and not looked at even a little critically.
Let's break it down a little: According to their family history, her ancestor Mandy was enslaved at the Madisons' family plantation (there is no record of a Mandy in Madison Sr.'s tax records or shoe orders, even though she would be there at the time. Slaves were stripped of a right to identity, so the records can be scarce, but there are multiple lists with many names and Mandy doesn't appear once), she worked on a cotton field (the plantation was a tobacco one) and she had a child with JM's father- the daughter, Coreen (so she would be JM's half sister, also no record of her by the way) had a child with Madison Jr., a son named Jim (there are records of slaves named James, Jim or Jemmy, but that's a relatively common name). He also could have been named Shadrack, because the author found out about an ancestor named Shadrack. He was born in 1792, but also after JM realised he can't have children with his wife and he wanted to have his own children (they got married in 1794 and the realisiation would take him some time, I guess, plus they lived in Philadelphia until 1796 and not on the plantation, but yes, the years probably wouldn't be exact in oral history. Plus why would he want to have a child he could never acknowledge and never take care for?). When Jim (or Shadrack) was a baby, JM's wife's niece Victoria who was the same age came to live with them (his wife never had any niece named Victoria and I couldn't find any information about any niece coming to live with them as a baby, there surely would have been some records or mentions in correspondence). Jim then went to Washington with the Madisons and he and Victoria fell in love. Jim saved the Americam flag from the White House in the War of 1812 (there aren't any records of that, Paul Jennings doesn't mention it in his memoir, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen). Dolley Madison then sold Jim, because she found out about his love for Victoria (the love story frankly sounds to me as if it was made up for a story). I'm also quite confused about the timelime here. There is a document about Emmanuel Madison, who was supposed to be Jim's son, JM's grandson, it's a will that would put his birth year in 1805. Again, the year is probably not precise, but if Jim was born already during JM's marriage or even in 1792, it would mean that he was at most 13 when his son was born. Also according to the oral history, Jim was sold away as a teenager after the War of 1812 (which was in 1815, so if he was born in 1792, he would be 22/23), but his son wasn't born at the Madison's plantation, but elsewhere in 1805?
To sum it up, if the story is true it would have to mean that: a) Jim was born way earlier and around 1805 already wasn't at the plantation b) both Coreen and Mandy are missing from the tax records, but they did exist (and their names could be different?) c) The part about the love story with the niece is fake, because such person didn't exist and the oldest niece he could have gotten in contact with was 2 in 1815 d) the only true part of the oral history is that JM had a son who was an ancestor of this family, which I don't think is true because of paragraphs 1 and 2
4) The oral history is lacking as well. According to the 2017 Washington Post article, when Mrs. Kearse reunited with her cousins who shared Emmanuel as their ancestor, they didn't know the story and asked for documentary proofs. This means it's likely the story was created later and in one line of the family after the supposed JM's grandon's death
Why would this matter? It's not my intention to destroy people's beliefs, the author is most likely not going to read this and I'm sure that if she did, it wouldn't change her mind anyway. People have the right to believe what they want to and I'm not saying I have to be right in this, but I have done some research and unlike the author, I can be objective because this matter is not personal to me. I couldn't find a single fact that would support this story, but plenty of facts that make it highly unlikely, the Y-DNA (if both information, from the WP article- the geneticist's statement and the family's newsletter are correct and I don't see why they wouldn't be) even practically disproves it.
Yet many articles or reviews about this book don't even question the story's credibility. A lot of them automatically proclaim the author as a descendant of James Madison, ignoring that there is nothing that proves or could prove it. Some of them even include parts of the story that are easily proven to be false (niece Victoria) and present them as real historical facts. I've seen comments on Instagram by people expressing outrage that this story is not in the history books and even a teacher of History saying she needs to include this in her lessons, calling Kearse "a biographer of James Madison".
This book is valuable for a lot of things, the author's research about the evils of slavery (something that needs to be researched and talked about) the way in which she is able to convey emotions, her personal journey, the power of family folklore...but it's not history in any way. Any historian could tell you that they cannot prioritize a story passed in one family over written records and nothing in any documents- tax records, memoirs, correspondence supports any part of this story.
Why is there so little criticism of the fact that a story with zero proof is presented as a historical truth? Well, I think it's rooted in the fact that this book describes real evils of slavery and it's true that many of America's "founding fathers", including JM, men who created the first modern democracy, owned slaves and had never freed them. It's unbeliavable that the United States didn't abolish slavery until 1863 and this inhuman, barbaric practise had brought great peril to many, robbing them of their rights and their lives.
But history is a science, the truth matters and everything needs to be supported by evidence. It shouldn't be twisted and it should be our primary goal to get to the truth even if it doesn't suit our narrative. We can and should talk about slavery and the lives of slaves without having to believe an unconfirmed and highly unlikely story.
April 15, 2021
As someone who spends countless hours researching my family genealogy, and being a lover of early American history, I so appreciated the author's diligence in tracing her ancestors' roots from their origins in Ghana to the slave ship.. to Europe... to the Colonies and through the Madison presidency. Clearly the author is passionate about her family's origins and about her appointed role as family griotte.
While she apparently has not yet gotten conclusive DNA proof that Pres. James Madison was her ancestor as a result of a liaison with his slave half sister, she believes her oral family history has given her the confidence that she is a descendant of an African woman and the U.S. president. Having taken multiple DNA tests myself, I have found myself a match to distant cousins... and NOT matching other distant cousins that my cousins have matched. Science says that the further back you go the more it is no surprise that you don't match someone who has conclusive proof of their origins. So... who knows if President Madison's and his father were her ancestors - it really doesn't matter in terms of the compelling story the author tells.
Whether or not the author's belief is ever scientifically proven, she has done a wonderful job of researching, spent a lot of time studying how to tell this tale, and has put together an amazing book that does a great job of portraying slavery - sharing the passed down stories, and adding information from her personal research.
A story worth telling at a time when I hope we always remember the actual history of our country exactly as the facts are known. Well done!
While she apparently has not yet gotten conclusive DNA proof that Pres. James Madison was her ancestor as a result of a liaison with his slave half sister, she believes her oral family history has given her the confidence that she is a descendant of an African woman and the U.S. president. Having taken multiple DNA tests myself, I have found myself a match to distant cousins... and NOT matching other distant cousins that my cousins have matched. Science says that the further back you go the more it is no surprise that you don't match someone who has conclusive proof of their origins. So... who knows if President Madison's and his father were her ancestors - it really doesn't matter in terms of the compelling story the author tells.
Whether or not the author's belief is ever scientifically proven, she has done a wonderful job of researching, spent a lot of time studying how to tell this tale, and has put together an amazing book that does a great job of portraying slavery - sharing the passed down stories, and adding information from her personal research.
A story worth telling at a time when I hope we always remember the actual history of our country exactly as the facts are known. Well done!
March 5, 2021
This book really gutted me. Told from the distant descendant of the child between a slave girl and President James Madison, we move backward and forward through time, looking at the original slave taken from West Africa to the modern descendants who had always been told to hold their heads high because they were related to a president of the United States.
The author does a really good job of making sure that we all understand the ramifications this lineage has on their modern black family, who has spent generations dealing with racism and bigotry. Never do we get a sense that Madison's "Black family" ever really benefited, other than through their own self determination and pride at being related to a president. I found the stories of other ancestors in the novel moving and harrowing, as we look at how institutionalized racism has held the family back (or tried to) throughout the generations.
This is a great book that helps confront the dark history of this country and I felt it was well organized and told.
The author does a really good job of making sure that we all understand the ramifications this lineage has on their modern black family, who has spent generations dealing with racism and bigotry. Never do we get a sense that Madison's "Black family" ever really benefited, other than through their own self determination and pride at being related to a president. I found the stories of other ancestors in the novel moving and harrowing, as we look at how institutionalized racism has held the family back (or tried to) throughout the generations.
This is a great book that helps confront the dark history of this country and I felt it was well organized and told.
May 9, 2025
This is a book club selection - I had not realized James Madison had a black family. The book was well written. Betty Kearse was a wonderful griotte , remembering stories and details of her family. She presented almost poetical remembrances of her ancestor Mandy who arrived as a slave to James Madison Sr. Their daughter, Coreen was a half sister to James Madison Jr. She was raped by our President and their son was Jim. The lineage was traced well to the author, who is a retired pediatrician and geneticist. The book also discusses the mostly unrecognized contributions of slaves in the making of America. Her points are very supported. A must read for those wanting to know a full picture of history.
March 13, 2021
Hard to read in places as descriptions of slave ships & rape are the terrible reality. The author shares her particular family’s story back at least ten generations. It’s an amazing story of resilience. She is the griotte, a storyteller, her family’s generational holder of memories. As such the book reads that way. She’s done her research but there are places as with any family where the physical evidence is slim but the oral tradition still rich.
Is she related to President Madison? Maybe. But she’s a Madison regardless.
Is she related to President Madison? Maybe. But she’s a Madison regardless.
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