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Jubilee
A 50th anniversary edition of Margaret Walker's best-selling classic with a foreword by Nikki Giovanni
Jubilee tells the true story of Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and one of his black slaves. Vyry bears witness to the South’s antebellum opulence and to its brutality, its wartime ruin, and the promises of Reconstruction. Weaving her own family’s oral history with thirty years of research, Margaret Walker’s novel brings the everyday experiences of slaves to light. Jubilee churns with the hunger, the hymns, the struggles, and the very breath of American history.
Jubilee tells the true story of Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and one of his black slaves. Vyry bears witness to the South’s antebellum opulence and to its brutality, its wartime ruin, and the promises of Reconstruction. Weaving her own family’s oral history with thirty years of research, Margaret Walker’s novel brings the everyday experiences of slaves to light. Jubilee churns with the hunger, the hymns, the struggles, and the very breath of American history.
497 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
722 people are currently reading
15907 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Walker
73 books191 followersDr. Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander was an African-American poet and author. She wrote as Margaret Walker. One of her most known poems is "For My People".
Her father Sigismund C. Walker was a Methodist minister and her mother was Marion Dozier Walker. They helped get her started in literature by teaching a lot of philosophy and poetry to her as a child.
In 1935, Walker received her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Northwestern University and in 1936 she began work with the Federal Writers' Project under the Works Progress Administration. In 1942 she received her master's degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa. In 1965 she returned to that school to earn her Ph.D. She also for a time served as a professor at what is today Jackson State University.
Her literature generally contained African American themes. Among her more popular works were her poem For My People, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition and her 1966 novel Jubilee, which received critical acclaim.
Margaret Walker died of breast cancer in Chicago in 1998.
Her father Sigismund C. Walker was a Methodist minister and her mother was Marion Dozier Walker. They helped get her started in literature by teaching a lot of philosophy and poetry to her as a child.
In 1935, Walker received her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Northwestern University and in 1936 she began work with the Federal Writers' Project under the Works Progress Administration. In 1942 she received her master's degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa. In 1965 she returned to that school to earn her Ph.D. She also for a time served as a professor at what is today Jackson State University.
Her literature generally contained African American themes. Among her more popular works were her poem For My People, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition and her 1966 novel Jubilee, which received critical acclaim.
Margaret Walker died of breast cancer in Chicago in 1998.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 807 reviews
March 4, 2019
I am so glad I challenged myself to read a classic a month this year. I'm always adding so many new books to my TBR list that I never get around to looking for some of the gaps in the classics. Had I not decided to rectify that this year, I might never have come across Margaret Walker's epic Jubillee What an absolutely AMAZING novel!
Jubillee tells the story of Vyry, born into slavery to a black mother and their white "marster". The book follows her life, from slavery through the Civil War, all the way through to freedom. It tells of her triumphs and her losses, her joys and her sorrows. It is heart-breaking and difficult to read at times; I don't know how anyone survived the horrors of slavery and the miseries the cruel slave owners heaped upon them. Through it all, no matter the hardships she endures both during slavery and after, Vyry never loses hope. She is one hell of a strong woman and her story breath-taking in its intensity.
I loved that Ms. Walker wrote in the slaves' dialect when she quoted them. It added such authenticity to the book. She is a brilliant storyteller and Vyry such a resplendent character. She and her story will no doubt stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend this one
(2019 March classic of the month)
Jubillee tells the story of Vyry, born into slavery to a black mother and their white "marster". The book follows her life, from slavery through the Civil War, all the way through to freedom. It tells of her triumphs and her losses, her joys and her sorrows. It is heart-breaking and difficult to read at times; I don't know how anyone survived the horrors of slavery and the miseries the cruel slave owners heaped upon them. Through it all, no matter the hardships she endures both during slavery and after, Vyry never loses hope. She is one hell of a strong woman and her story breath-taking in its intensity.
I loved that Ms. Walker wrote in the slaves' dialect when she quoted them. It added such authenticity to the book. She is a brilliant storyteller and Vyry such a resplendent character. She and her story will no doubt stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend this one
(2019 March classic of the month)
July 13, 2017
Jubilee is the African-American counterpart to Gone with the Wind.
But it is more than that as it is based on the actual story of Margaret Walker's great-grandmother, Margaret Duggans Ware Brown. Walker grew up listening to these stories told by her grandmother about her mother born a slave before the war. Later as an adult she spent years researching the pre- and post-war eras, various dialects, battles and famous personages, family history, etc., in order to write Jubilee.
It is historical fiction but it is based primarily on the life of one very strong and courageous woman (Vyry, short for Elvira) who lived through one of the most difficult times in history. I liked her very much. If this book was – is – supposed to be the alternative/contrast to Margaret Mitchell’s epic about Tara, then I will take Vyry as a leading lady any day over Scarlett. Of course that isn’t saying much, is it?
Although Jubilee is over fifty years old, it doesn’t seem to be very well known. It should be. Most likely the strong Christian overtones are what keeps it in obscurity. What a shame! From my perspective that is all the more reason it needs to be read.
It’s not only a story about race, suffering, family, prayer and grace. It is also about forgiveness and letting go. Vyry gives a beautiful explanation to her son, Jim, about how when we hold on to anger and hatred our hearts become smaller, cold and hard. But when we decide to forgive someone, we release the anger we feel and our hearts open up, making room for love to rush in, causing them to grow warmer and bigger making room for even more love. It was a beautiful scene. I wish time and space would permit including the whole conversation and her exact words.
The writing in this book is very simple. At first it seemed almost childish, but I came to appreciate it as the sweet gentle and genuinely loving soul of Vyry. I wish there was a sequel. I wish I had known Vyry.
The edition I purchased contains some additional readings at the end which I have not read at this time.
But it is more than that as it is based on the actual story of Margaret Walker's great-grandmother, Margaret Duggans Ware Brown. Walker grew up listening to these stories told by her grandmother about her mother born a slave before the war. Later as an adult she spent years researching the pre- and post-war eras, various dialects, battles and famous personages, family history, etc., in order to write Jubilee.
It is historical fiction but it is based primarily on the life of one very strong and courageous woman (Vyry, short for Elvira) who lived through one of the most difficult times in history. I liked her very much. If this book was – is – supposed to be the alternative/contrast to Margaret Mitchell’s epic about Tara, then I will take Vyry as a leading lady any day over Scarlett. Of course that isn’t saying much, is it?
Although Jubilee is over fifty years old, it doesn’t seem to be very well known. It should be. Most likely the strong Christian overtones are what keeps it in obscurity. What a shame! From my perspective that is all the more reason it needs to be read.
It’s not only a story about race, suffering, family, prayer and grace. It is also about forgiveness and letting go. Vyry gives a beautiful explanation to her son, Jim, about how when we hold on to anger and hatred our hearts become smaller, cold and hard. But when we decide to forgive someone, we release the anger we feel and our hearts open up, making room for love to rush in, causing them to grow warmer and bigger making room for even more love. It was a beautiful scene. I wish time and space would permit including the whole conversation and her exact words.
The writing in this book is very simple. At first it seemed almost childish, but I came to appreciate it as the sweet gentle and genuinely loving soul of Vyry. I wish there was a sequel. I wish I had known Vyry.
The edition I purchased contains some additional readings at the end which I have not read at this time.
December 4, 2013
Completely heart-wrenching. I am still so much under the effect of this book that I can hardly verbalize what makes it so powerful.
The heroine, Vyry, is one of those who stays with you forever. I feel like I lived through all of Vyry's horrors and joys with her and she will always be someone whose example of fortitude I will remind myself of when I experience horror of my own.
The writing is not ornate, not overly complex. It's written in a style completely appropriate for the subject matter and characters. The colloquial language ascribed to the characters seems authentic to me, who did not live in that time. But it added to the overall flavor of the book.
Honestly, I feel like it's one of those book that can hardly be critiqued. The subject matter and heroine are so utterly harrowing that pointing out any flaws outside of that would appears very petty.
Unequivocally one of my favorite books of all time, I think. I will buy a beautiful hardbound copy one day and read it again and again.
The heroine, Vyry, is one of those who stays with you forever. I feel like I lived through all of Vyry's horrors and joys with her and she will always be someone whose example of fortitude I will remind myself of when I experience horror of my own.
The writing is not ornate, not overly complex. It's written in a style completely appropriate for the subject matter and characters. The colloquial language ascribed to the characters seems authentic to me, who did not live in that time. But it added to the overall flavor of the book.
Honestly, I feel like it's one of those book that can hardly be critiqued. The subject matter and heroine are so utterly harrowing that pointing out any flaws outside of that would appears very petty.
Unequivocally one of my favorite books of all time, I think. I will buy a beautiful hardbound copy one day and read it again and again.
October 19, 2019
Robin Miles, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama brought this audiobook to life with her extraordinary voice and ability to render different characters. At almost 500 pages, ‘Jubilee’ by Margaret Walker would have been much more challenging to read, had it not been for the voice of Miles, turning Vyry into a three-dimensional character with hopes, fears, and dreams that I could easily identify with. The comfort of a safe home, the luxury of a predictable day, a good education for her children, and knowing that at nighttime, those in her immediate family would be tucked safely into bed. These are all things many of us take for granted. As the story begins, Vyry’s mother lays dying. Hetta, is twenty-nine years old, and she has given birth to fifteen children. The master of their plantation in Georgia, John Dutton, is Vyry’s father, a milquetoast person, who lets his wife run the plantation, while he aims for politics. His wife, Salina, comes from fine stock in Savannah and runs things with a steely hand and a cold heart.
“His father gave him Hetta when he was still in his teens and she was barely more than a pickaninny. He remembered how she had looked growing up, long legged like a wild colt and just that temperamental. She looked like some African queen from the Congo.”
Mammy Sukey becomes Vyry’s surrogate mother and at age seven, Vyry is taken to the Big House. Very light-skinned, she bears a striking resemblance to Lillian, her half sister, daughter of Master John and Salina. But blood is all they will share. Salina, (the slaves also call her Big Missy), harbors resentment against the girl. Every time she sees her, she is reminded of her husband’s dalliance with his black slave mistress. Big Missy heaps abuse upon the young girl. When Vyry breaks one of her china dishes, Big Missy ties up Vyry’s hands with a strap and hangs her in the closet. Another time, she throws a pot of urine in Vyry’s face. Added to the physical and mental abuse, the traumas of watching other slaves be beaten to their deaths, and the abuses that they are made to suffer and Vyry is surely marked by her experiences. Instead of becoming bitter and hard-hearted, she becomes a deeply thoughtful and wise person, turning to some interior spirit that as Innis Brown will come to recognize, has been “forged in a crucible of suffering.”
The author of Vyry’s saga, Margaret Walker, was born in 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama to Reverend Sigismund C. Walker and Marion Dozier Walker. Her father was a scholar and taught his daughter to love literature. ‘Jubilee’ was her first novel and marked “the first time a black writer spoke out for the liberation of the black woman.” (1) It was quite a landmark novel, in that “it is regarded as “the first truly historical black American novel,” according to Washington Post contributor Crispin Y. Campbell.” (2) It took thirty years for Walker to write the novel, which is based on the story of her own great-grandmother.
Two men become important in Vyry’s life. The free black man, Randall Ware, a blacksmith, with whom she ‘jumps the broom’ and Innis Brown, whom she marries after the Civil War when Ware fails to return home after an absence of many years. The two men are very different, Ware has a fire and fury inside him that is hard to contain; he fully believes in an educated and politically aware Black man. Brown is the essence of doing what is needed to survive, fully invested in the dreams of land and homeownership, but not yet realizing the need for education and political identity. How all of them, Vyry, Ware, and Brown are shaped by the South during the years of Reconstruction, makes for thought-provoking reading. The cruelty of the Ku Klux Klan impinges upon our characters. One of Vyry’s neighbors is tarred and feathered. She will die horrifically. The KKK’s actions will more directly affect Vyry and Innis Brown when a cross is burned in front of their house.
Walker sets her novel in the historical context of the South’s Antebellum years, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, but what makes the story most fascinating is learning about the daily and social lives of slaves as they transition into free men and women. Their resilience, their hopes, their songs and stories, their deep and abiding humanity as people of great suffering. I think this is a remarkable piece of writing for its place in history and although challenging because of its length, I’m glad it was the monthly selection of my book group, ‘On the Southern Literary Trail.’
(1) and (2) https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet...
“His father gave him Hetta when he was still in his teens and she was barely more than a pickaninny. He remembered how she had looked growing up, long legged like a wild colt and just that temperamental. She looked like some African queen from the Congo.”
Mammy Sukey becomes Vyry’s surrogate mother and at age seven, Vyry is taken to the Big House. Very light-skinned, she bears a striking resemblance to Lillian, her half sister, daughter of Master John and Salina. But blood is all they will share. Salina, (the slaves also call her Big Missy), harbors resentment against the girl. Every time she sees her, she is reminded of her husband’s dalliance with his black slave mistress. Big Missy heaps abuse upon the young girl. When Vyry breaks one of her china dishes, Big Missy ties up Vyry’s hands with a strap and hangs her in the closet. Another time, she throws a pot of urine in Vyry’s face. Added to the physical and mental abuse, the traumas of watching other slaves be beaten to their deaths, and the abuses that they are made to suffer and Vyry is surely marked by her experiences. Instead of becoming bitter and hard-hearted, she becomes a deeply thoughtful and wise person, turning to some interior spirit that as Innis Brown will come to recognize, has been “forged in a crucible of suffering.”
The author of Vyry’s saga, Margaret Walker, was born in 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama to Reverend Sigismund C. Walker and Marion Dozier Walker. Her father was a scholar and taught his daughter to love literature. ‘Jubilee’ was her first novel and marked “the first time a black writer spoke out for the liberation of the black woman.” (1) It was quite a landmark novel, in that “it is regarded as “the first truly historical black American novel,” according to Washington Post contributor Crispin Y. Campbell.” (2) It took thirty years for Walker to write the novel, which is based on the story of her own great-grandmother.
Two men become important in Vyry’s life. The free black man, Randall Ware, a blacksmith, with whom she ‘jumps the broom’ and Innis Brown, whom she marries after the Civil War when Ware fails to return home after an absence of many years. The two men are very different, Ware has a fire and fury inside him that is hard to contain; he fully believes in an educated and politically aware Black man. Brown is the essence of doing what is needed to survive, fully invested in the dreams of land and homeownership, but not yet realizing the need for education and political identity. How all of them, Vyry, Ware, and Brown are shaped by the South during the years of Reconstruction, makes for thought-provoking reading. The cruelty of the Ku Klux Klan impinges upon our characters. One of Vyry’s neighbors is tarred and feathered. She will die horrifically. The KKK’s actions will more directly affect Vyry and Innis Brown when a cross is burned in front of their house.
Walker sets her novel in the historical context of the South’s Antebellum years, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, but what makes the story most fascinating is learning about the daily and social lives of slaves as they transition into free men and women. Their resilience, their hopes, their songs and stories, their deep and abiding humanity as people of great suffering. I think this is a remarkable piece of writing for its place in history and although challenging because of its length, I’m glad it was the monthly selection of my book group, ‘On the Southern Literary Trail.’
(1) and (2) https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet...
April 18, 2022
[3.5] Jubilee follows Vyry's life, from her birth as an enslaved baby through adulthood as a free woman. Walker diligently chronicles the events surrounding Vyry and all the people in her life at the expense of character depth. Fortunately, the pace picked up for me after emancipation. Vyry came into focus more clearly as she and her family struggled to survive and deal with the Ku Klux Klan and other obstacles. The breadth of this novel is impressive and I was entertained by Robin Miles' excellent audio narration.
October 30, 2020
A historical novel running from the period before the American Civil War, through the war and to the aftermath. It follows Vyry, a slave with a black mother and a white father (the master of the plantation) through slavery in the ante-bellum years to freedom charting the struggle of freed slaves to make a living and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Walker researched the history behind this for thirty years and it is basically the story of her great grandmother. Comparisons have been drawn with Gone with the Wind, but this is from the perspective of a slave. This is a well told story which ought to be better known than it is and it is told from Vyry’s perspective and is one of the first novels to focus on an enslaved black woman’s experiences.
There is a day to day ordinariness about it whilst the horrors of slavery are lived and survived (or not in some cases). The novel is populated by strong female characters and a matrilineal model of tradition. Vyry learns from the older women in her life:
“Vyry was so devoted to Aunt Sally she would never have told anyone how often she saw her steal great panfuls of white folks’ grub, and how many pockets she had in her skirts and her bosom where she hid biscuits and cakes and pie, even though Big Missy threatened more than once to have Aunt Sally strung up and given a good beating if she even caught her stealing.”
What Walker also does is draw links with other subjugated groups and points to a more collective history and a wider perspective on white supremacy and colonialism:
“One time they posted a sign with an Injun head on it, and it said that Injun had smallpox and everybody keep away from him; and another time the poster read how it was agin Georgy law (still is) for nary nother piece of paper, pencil, pen, writing papers, books, newspapers or print things to get in black hands, slave or free.”
The older members of the community bear the culture; the wisdom of the women in the novel, the preacher brother Ezekiel, and music and song which plays a central role. It all adds to a sense of wistfulness for Vyry:
“She stood on the hill and watched the sunrise and saw the ribbons of mist hanging over the valley […]. This was her favourite spot in the early morning, but oh, how she wished she were going some place. She wishes herself out where the fields ended, where the wagon road was winding, and the Central Railroad of Georgia was puffing like a tiny black fly speck along the tracks. […] She would like to go far beyond Aunt Sally’s voice calling her back to her morning chores of picking up chips, feeding chickens, finding that setting dominicker hen”
The sense of a growing movement called abolitionist grows only slowly and even when the war starts it feels distant at first. Parallel with the political developments is Vyry’s relationships with the two men she marries and the birth of her children and the novels shows her developing into one of the strong women who raised her. There is a bit of idealisation going on as well:
“She was only a living sign and mark of all the best that any human being could hope to become. In her obvious capacity for love, redemptive and forgiving love, she was alive and standing on the highest peaks of her time and human personality. Peasant and slave, unlettered and untutored, she was nevertheless the best true example of the motherhood of her race, an ever present assurance that nothing could destroy a people whose sons had come from her loins.”
But there is a political engagement and identity and a sense of collective courage driven the women of the novel. It’s also a damn good story with real power and purpose.
There is a day to day ordinariness about it whilst the horrors of slavery are lived and survived (or not in some cases). The novel is populated by strong female characters and a matrilineal model of tradition. Vyry learns from the older women in her life:
“Vyry was so devoted to Aunt Sally she would never have told anyone how often she saw her steal great panfuls of white folks’ grub, and how many pockets she had in her skirts and her bosom where she hid biscuits and cakes and pie, even though Big Missy threatened more than once to have Aunt Sally strung up and given a good beating if she even caught her stealing.”
What Walker also does is draw links with other subjugated groups and points to a more collective history and a wider perspective on white supremacy and colonialism:
“One time they posted a sign with an Injun head on it, and it said that Injun had smallpox and everybody keep away from him; and another time the poster read how it was agin Georgy law (still is) for nary nother piece of paper, pencil, pen, writing papers, books, newspapers or print things to get in black hands, slave or free.”
The older members of the community bear the culture; the wisdom of the women in the novel, the preacher brother Ezekiel, and music and song which plays a central role. It all adds to a sense of wistfulness for Vyry:
“She stood on the hill and watched the sunrise and saw the ribbons of mist hanging over the valley […]. This was her favourite spot in the early morning, but oh, how she wished she were going some place. She wishes herself out where the fields ended, where the wagon road was winding, and the Central Railroad of Georgia was puffing like a tiny black fly speck along the tracks. […] She would like to go far beyond Aunt Sally’s voice calling her back to her morning chores of picking up chips, feeding chickens, finding that setting dominicker hen”
The sense of a growing movement called abolitionist grows only slowly and even when the war starts it feels distant at first. Parallel with the political developments is Vyry’s relationships with the two men she marries and the birth of her children and the novels shows her developing into one of the strong women who raised her. There is a bit of idealisation going on as well:
“She was only a living sign and mark of all the best that any human being could hope to become. In her obvious capacity for love, redemptive and forgiving love, she was alive and standing on the highest peaks of her time and human personality. Peasant and slave, unlettered and untutored, she was nevertheless the best true example of the motherhood of her race, an ever present assurance that nothing could destroy a people whose sons had come from her loins.”
But there is a political engagement and identity and a sense of collective courage driven the women of the novel. It’s also a damn good story with real power and purpose.
June 24, 2019
I am left swooning over this book. A true story that reads like great fiction. I loved, loved, loved it, even as I felt every sorrow and injustice conveyed by the author, every verbal and physical abuse, every loss that was faced as a result of hatred and racial discrimination.
While the heroine of this story may been bloodied and bowed for a time, she was never broken. Vyry is a hardworking woman of fortitude, courage, and great faith. A wise woman with only love in her heart not only for her family, but for the cruel, cruel world in which she lives.
I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Like MLK Jr., Vyry also knew that hatred can’t drive out hatred; only love can do that.
I am humbled and blessed to have read in my opinion, THE great classic Slavery and Civil War story. The courage of Vyry is what stands out and will forever stay with me.
I’m so glad I bought the kindle book and audiobook from Audible. Worth every penny in enjoyment and enlightenment. Now I want to buy it in hardcover, because it deserves its place on my Favorites shelf. Just seeing it on my shelf every day will be a reminder that I, too, can live courageously, as Vyry did throughout her life’s formidable struggles.
While the heroine of this story may been bloodied and bowed for a time, she was never broken. Vyry is a hardworking woman of fortitude, courage, and great faith. A wise woman with only love in her heart not only for her family, but for the cruel, cruel world in which she lives.
I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Like MLK Jr., Vyry also knew that hatred can’t drive out hatred; only love can do that.
I am humbled and blessed to have read in my opinion, THE great classic Slavery and Civil War story. The courage of Vyry is what stands out and will forever stay with me.
I’m so glad I bought the kindle book and audiobook from Audible. Worth every penny in enjoyment and enlightenment. Now I want to buy it in hardcover, because it deserves its place on my Favorites shelf. Just seeing it on my shelf every day will be a reminder that I, too, can live courageously, as Vyry did throughout her life’s formidable struggles.
October 29, 2023
By now, I've read plenty of books set in antebellum south, and although this novel does not score as high as kindred or incidents in the life of a slave girl, it's still fairly good. It's the only one that I've read which captures the antebellum era, civil war, and the reconstruction period.
My favourite aspect of the novel was the portrayal of the reconstruction era. The reconstruction period was truly a period of lost hopes and dreams. It seemed as if United States may have been able to achieve equality for the newly freed slaves, especially with the radical republicans in power, but hatred and intolerance was too powerful and too much of a barrier. I always found the reconstruction period to be quite a tragic period in American history because civil rights was almost close to being obtained 90 years earlier. Although this book ends up in a happy note, it war far from so for many who lived during those times. It must have felt overwhelming to be given your rights (vote, hold office, fair trail), and then for it to be taken away once more, and then be plunged back into another period of torment and terror, but KKK and lynching this time around instead of slavery.
Although I like how the story was laid out and told, I felt quite detached from the main character. The story follows the Character of Vyry, who was born to a slave mistress and a white planter. She was too amiable and pleasant of a character for me to dislike, however, I still found her character to be sort of plain. She never fully seemed to open up. In my opinion, the character came off as reserved. However, the story does not always focus on Vyry. It sometimes switches perspectives between the overseer, or her mistress or some other character.
The other characters were engaging, however, the author never manages to capture the character's personality in a way that makes them stand out. For instance, Vyry's father is kind, but he comes off as uncaring and uninterested in his daughter, and we are never given the full scope of why this is so. I think it's just assumed that since he's a planter, he would never show much care for his illegitimate daughter, but you would think since he's much kinder than his wife or other planters that it would also be reflected in the way he treats his daughter. Yet he he treats her almost as if she's insignificant and sees her merely as a useful slave. He's not harsh, he just doesn't notice or pay attention to her.
Nonetheless, she does manages to capture the historical aspect, which I greatly enjoyed.
My favourite aspect of the novel was the portrayal of the reconstruction era. The reconstruction period was truly a period of lost hopes and dreams. It seemed as if United States may have been able to achieve equality for the newly freed slaves, especially with the radical republicans in power, but hatred and intolerance was too powerful and too much of a barrier. I always found the reconstruction period to be quite a tragic period in American history because civil rights was almost close to being obtained 90 years earlier. Although this book ends up in a happy note, it war far from so for many who lived during those times. It must have felt overwhelming to be given your rights (vote, hold office, fair trail), and then for it to be taken away once more, and then be plunged back into another period of torment and terror, but KKK and lynching this time around instead of slavery.
Although I like how the story was laid out and told, I felt quite detached from the main character. The story follows the Character of Vyry, who was born to a slave mistress and a white planter. She was too amiable and pleasant of a character for me to dislike, however, I still found her character to be sort of plain. She never fully seemed to open up. In my opinion, the character came off as reserved. However, the story does not always focus on Vyry. It sometimes switches perspectives between the overseer, or her mistress or some other character.
The other characters were engaging, however, the author never manages to capture the character's personality in a way that makes them stand out. For instance, Vyry's father is kind, but he comes off as uncaring and uninterested in his daughter, and we are never given the full scope of why this is so. I think it's just assumed that since he's a planter, he would never show much care for his illegitimate daughter, but you would think since he's much kinder than his wife or other planters that it would also be reflected in the way he treats his daughter. Yet he he treats her almost as if she's insignificant and sees her merely as a useful slave. He's not harsh, he just doesn't notice or pay attention to her.
Nonetheless, she does manages to capture the historical aspect, which I greatly enjoyed.
August 14, 2012
This is a solid example of great story-telling. This novel, written in 1966, is the combined result of the author's 30 years of research of the ante-bellum years, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and her own great-grandmother's oral history passed down through her family. If you love historical fiction, great story-telling or thought-provoking novels, you will probably love this book.
August 13, 2019
Jubilee
Throughout my life when someone asks me what my favorite book is, my response is usually Gone With The Wind (have read and watched it over 20 times in my life). My mother’s line is Southern / Northern, and it goes like that all the way back to the Mayflower, to Miss Priscilla Mullins. It was always a mild laugh-getter that her people fought each other to get to us Westerners (The Truly Chosen). I was unaware and Ignorant (as my Texan Granny would say) of the other side of the GWTW coin or that there even was another book out there with even more gravitas about the time and the struggle. I don’t know how the book came up on my reading radar, but I am ever thankful that it did, and will now look further into Margaret Walker’s writings.
The endings of the two books deserve their own comparison. . .Scarlett’s method of surviving Rhett’s not giving a damn (“I’ll think about it tomorrow . . .for tomorrow is another day!”)and burying her heart in Tara, and Vyry’s greeting the circumstance of having lost so much, to then be presented with so many loose ends all in one room just begging to be tied; burying her heart in Her People. I loved it – and was stunned to realize that for 20 times I’d only considered half the story.
Vyry’s life was an education to me, and a shame in so many ways. My race hung on me in a very unattractive way. How could my ancestors justify their actions? How did those beatings, brandings, whippings, hangings happening within their world affect them? How did they not do all they could to prevent them? Change them? Make things right? In my lifetime I had a living, breathing, Southern uncle with who there was no way to reason. . . .his Arkansan statement was God’s Truth and that was all there was to it - he was the stereotype straight through to his spine. But in the 80's/90's, sitting in the heart of Sacramento he was just an amusing, old feller of which I was fond. . . but the horror of it is when he’s everyone and there’s only one of me laughing. . .wasn't that long ago, and I'm worried that it is still out there in the dark corners.
If you haven’t read this, gird up your loins and do. Close your eyes and imagine yourself there. (I listened to this, so could do that.) It was a shock opening my eyes to the freedoms, comforts and High Expectations Met that surround me even on my bleakest days.
We still need to change, we still have minds that need to accept differences, and seek truth and justice that treats all humans with the same brush. We are still not even close. And some days it feels like we are in a terrible backslide.
Throughout my life when someone asks me what my favorite book is, my response is usually Gone With The Wind (have read and watched it over 20 times in my life). My mother’s line is Southern / Northern, and it goes like that all the way back to the Mayflower, to Miss Priscilla Mullins. It was always a mild laugh-getter that her people fought each other to get to us Westerners (The Truly Chosen). I was unaware and Ignorant (as my Texan Granny would say) of the other side of the GWTW coin or that there even was another book out there with even more gravitas about the time and the struggle. I don’t know how the book came up on my reading radar, but I am ever thankful that it did, and will now look further into Margaret Walker’s writings.
The endings of the two books deserve their own comparison. . .Scarlett’s method of surviving Rhett’s not giving a damn (“I’ll think about it tomorrow . . .for tomorrow is another day!”)and burying her heart in Tara, and Vyry’s greeting the circumstance of having lost so much, to then be presented with so many loose ends all in one room just begging to be tied; burying her heart in Her People. I loved it – and was stunned to realize that for 20 times I’d only considered half the story.
Vyry’s life was an education to me, and a shame in so many ways. My race hung on me in a very unattractive way. How could my ancestors justify their actions? How did those beatings, brandings, whippings, hangings happening within their world affect them? How did they not do all they could to prevent them? Change them? Make things right? In my lifetime I had a living, breathing, Southern uncle with who there was no way to reason. . . .his Arkansan statement was God’s Truth and that was all there was to it - he was the stereotype straight through to his spine. But in the 80's/90's, sitting in the heart of Sacramento he was just an amusing, old feller of which I was fond. . . but the horror of it is when he’s everyone and there’s only one of me laughing. . .wasn't that long ago, and I'm worried that it is still out there in the dark corners.
If you haven’t read this, gird up your loins and do. Close your eyes and imagine yourself there. (I listened to this, so could do that.) It was a shock opening my eyes to the freedoms, comforts and High Expectations Met that surround me even on my bleakest days.
We still need to change, we still have minds that need to accept differences, and seek truth and justice that treats all humans with the same brush. We are still not even close. And some days it feels like we are in a terrible backslide.
January 2, 2019
4.5 stars for a really enjoyable audiobook!
Jubilee was one of those books I hadn't heard about until I saw it as an Audible Daily Deal. I looked into the history of the book and its author and I found out some interesting things. Ms. Walker released this story in the 1960s and it was well received. In truth, I can see why. Many people, including myself, saw this as a realistic story on slavery and the 7 years after it was abolished as it shows both the hope and disappointment that many blacks faced during the before, during, and after the Civil War. The story is based on Ms. Walker's real-life Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather that she wanted to share as a historical fiction.
The story switches between multiple points of view but it's done so subtly I wasn't really bothered by it. Ms. Walker's timing and writing about the switching of thoughts and opinions of the different characters. One way Ms. Walker introduces us to this switching of POVs is that she starts the story, literally the first chapter, by giving us the backstory of how the main character, Vyry, came into existence. Vyry's mother, Sis Hetta, is a slave that gets repeated sexually assaulted by her master, John Dutton, who is also the owner of the plantation she lives on. She is 29 yet has a total 15 children through her husband and master by the time she unfortunately passes away from a sickness. It's sad how often many female slaves were assaulted by their masters. They were seen as "practice" before marriage and release when men were unsatisfied with their wives. It wasn't right, but I knew that Ms. Walker wasn't going to shy away from harsh reality slaves, including her own family members, had faced. It was even sadder how often the children born from these encounters were seen as their father's "property" not children. The feelings John Dutton has towards Sis Hetta are complex as he seems to genuinely care for her but is unable to grasp it. These were slightly common for men of the time. Whether it was love or satisfaction in "her duty" I cannot say.
After that the story tends to focus on the life of Vyry and her life. We share in loving moments with adopted family members and shockingly horrible moments that many slaves experienced. There are holiday celebrations, weddings, and daily duties the Dutton family, the overseer Grimes, and the slaves on the plantation have and they are all so different. The Duttons are well-respected and rich so they do things in a grand manner and try to be as generous as their natures can afford. Grimes is considered a poor/middle class man who works hard for a family he has both jealously, respect, and resentment towards as he has to work constantly in all forms of weather. He relies on the Duttons and knows they control him a little less than the slaves he controls. Lastly, the slaves are below the poverty line as they rely on the Duttons for everything (a new pair of clothes and shoes once a year, for example). We see the different levels of slaves also in the book: the outsides slaves who work the fields and house slaves who help the chores and maintenance of the plantation.
There were even mentions of feminine hygiene and how someone would deliver first aid after a slave was beaten or whipped. I was surprised and happy the the depth and details Ms. Walker went into this story. It seemed truly like no stone was left unturned in regards to writing or questions a person would have in a life for all the different people that were in the Deep South. The story takes brief breaks with passages of political, social, and economical states of not only the South but the North and nation as a whole. Many people have felt that these moments interrupted the flow as a story, but I liked these moments as it helped me understand Vyry's and the other characters lives we follow. The characters are very different with different standings throughout the novel (born free black versus slave, poor whites versus rich blacks, farmers versus business owners, or educated versus uneducated people are examples of the differences touched on). Beware of the possibility that these points added to the complexity of the book.
Another arc of the story was the romances Vyry has with two different men: Randall Ware, an educated born-free black man who owns his own blacksmith business, and Innis Brown, a freed slave who wants to own and work his own farm. These men show the different types of men that were around before and after slave. Randall was able to use his skills to help the Union Army and become involved in politics to try and better the lives of his fellow blacks. He is a stubborn man who I grew to really admire and feel for when he both stumbled and succeeded. Innis Brown is an every man for blacks who just wants to fulfill his dream of having a family and living his "simple" dream of having his own farm and land but struggles due to be unable to read or write. There comes a moment where the reader has to ask themselves who they would rather have Vyry with, and, honestly, I couldn't tell you who was the better choice. Both men have their flaws and strengths and made me think of men I know personally. I grew to really like all the characters including Vyry throughout the book.
If I'm completely truthful of my feelings I can't say this is a perfect book for me even though it's a super good book. As odd as it sounds I feel a part of this unhappiness stems from Vyry being shown as the epitome of a black woman. She's strong in her faith, hardworking, talented, stubborn, and loving as person and I love her for those traits. However, she can't seem to do anything wrong or make mistakes. Something injustice always happens to her but she never seems to do anything to warrant it. There are moments where her oldest son, Jim, isn't too happy with her but he believes that she has to be the way she is out of womanly loyalty to her husband. Nobody is perfect or want to write bad about their dead family member (most of the time but not always) and in this case I feel it kind of hindered the story and Vyry's further growth has a person.
Lastly, I really enjoyed Robin Miles as a narrator. I've heard another audiobook narrated by her previously and found her to be the best part of that story. (It wasn't my favorite sci-fi.) She voiced about 20 people throughout the story and other minor characters, yet made the voices distinct enough to not get too confusing for me to follow. That is a job well done! If you find a book with Robin Miles as the narrator definitely try to listen to it.
Jubilee was one of those books I hadn't heard about until I saw it as an Audible Daily Deal. I looked into the history of the book and its author and I found out some interesting things. Ms. Walker released this story in the 1960s and it was well received. In truth, I can see why. Many people, including myself, saw this as a realistic story on slavery and the 7 years after it was abolished as it shows both the hope and disappointment that many blacks faced during the before, during, and after the Civil War. The story is based on Ms. Walker's real-life Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather that she wanted to share as a historical fiction.
The story switches between multiple points of view but it's done so subtly I wasn't really bothered by it. Ms. Walker's timing and writing about the switching of thoughts and opinions of the different characters. One way Ms. Walker introduces us to this switching of POVs is that she starts the story, literally the first chapter, by giving us the backstory of how the main character, Vyry, came into existence. Vyry's mother, Sis Hetta, is a slave that gets repeated sexually assaulted by her master, John Dutton, who is also the owner of the plantation she lives on. She is 29 yet has a total 15 children through her husband and master by the time she unfortunately passes away from a sickness. It's sad how often many female slaves were assaulted by their masters. They were seen as "practice" before marriage and release when men were unsatisfied with their wives. It wasn't right, but I knew that Ms. Walker wasn't going to shy away from harsh reality slaves, including her own family members, had faced. It was even sadder how often the children born from these encounters were seen as their father's "property" not children. The feelings John Dutton has towards Sis Hetta are complex as he seems to genuinely care for her but is unable to grasp it. These were slightly common for men of the time. Whether it was love or satisfaction in "her duty" I cannot say.
After that the story tends to focus on the life of Vyry and her life. We share in loving moments with adopted family members and shockingly horrible moments that many slaves experienced. There are holiday celebrations, weddings, and daily duties the Dutton family, the overseer Grimes, and the slaves on the plantation have and they are all so different. The Duttons are well-respected and rich so they do things in a grand manner and try to be as generous as their natures can afford. Grimes is considered a poor/middle class man who works hard for a family he has both jealously, respect, and resentment towards as he has to work constantly in all forms of weather. He relies on the Duttons and knows they control him a little less than the slaves he controls. Lastly, the slaves are below the poverty line as they rely on the Duttons for everything (a new pair of clothes and shoes once a year, for example). We see the different levels of slaves also in the book: the outsides slaves who work the fields and house slaves who help the chores and maintenance of the plantation.
There were even mentions of feminine hygiene and how someone would deliver first aid after a slave was beaten or whipped. I was surprised and happy the the depth and details Ms. Walker went into this story. It seemed truly like no stone was left unturned in regards to writing or questions a person would have in a life for all the different people that were in the Deep South. The story takes brief breaks with passages of political, social, and economical states of not only the South but the North and nation as a whole. Many people have felt that these moments interrupted the flow as a story, but I liked these moments as it helped me understand Vyry's and the other characters lives we follow. The characters are very different with different standings throughout the novel (born free black versus slave, poor whites versus rich blacks, farmers versus business owners, or educated versus uneducated people are examples of the differences touched on). Beware of the possibility that these points added to the complexity of the book.
Another arc of the story was the romances Vyry has with two different men: Randall Ware, an educated born-free black man who owns his own blacksmith business, and Innis Brown, a freed slave who wants to own and work his own farm. These men show the different types of men that were around before and after slave. Randall was able to use his skills to help the Union Army and become involved in politics to try and better the lives of his fellow blacks. He is a stubborn man who I grew to really admire and feel for when he both stumbled and succeeded. Innis Brown is an every man for blacks who just wants to fulfill his dream of having a family and living his "simple" dream of having his own farm and land but struggles due to be unable to read or write. There comes a moment where the reader has to ask themselves who they would rather have Vyry with, and, honestly, I couldn't tell you who was the better choice. Both men have their flaws and strengths and made me think of men I know personally. I grew to really like all the characters including Vyry throughout the book.
If I'm completely truthful of my feelings I can't say this is a perfect book for me even though it's a super good book. As odd as it sounds I feel a part of this unhappiness stems from Vyry being shown as the epitome of a black woman. She's strong in her faith, hardworking, talented, stubborn, and loving as person and I love her for those traits. However, she can't seem to do anything wrong or make mistakes. Something injustice always happens to her but she never seems to do anything to warrant it. There are moments where her oldest son, Jim, isn't too happy with her but he believes that she has to be the way she is out of womanly loyalty to her husband. Nobody is perfect or want to write bad about their dead family member (most of the time but not always) and in this case I feel it kind of hindered the story and Vyry's further growth has a person.
Lastly, I really enjoyed Robin Miles as a narrator. I've heard another audiobook narrated by her previously and found her to be the best part of that story. (It wasn't my favorite sci-fi.) She voiced about 20 people throughout the story and other minor characters, yet made the voices distinct enough to not get too confusing for me to follow. That is a job well done! If you find a book with Robin Miles as the narrator definitely try to listen to it.
February 7, 2025
Like Tademy’s Cane River, Jubilee is a record of the author’s progenitors. It’s biography, story, history and good storytelling all rolled into full portrait of southern plantation life, slavery, racism, sexism, war, hatred, bigotry and all the ugliness of white people not wanting black people to have anything even if it hurts them as much.
Vyry is an earth goddess whose story we follow. She is the sole unsold offspring of a slave woman who bore 17 children to her white master. Her mother saw all her other children either die or be sold away. Vyry’s father never acknowledged her as his child, but extended some protection for her against his wife’s animus. Like most antebellum white southern wives, she took her anger and frustration of her husband’s sexual use of their slaves out on the women and the children of these rapes. But even so, Vyry is good down to her bones, and her story is an important part of the American tableau.
Vyry’s first husband is a stand-in for WEB DuBois that I was glad to have included.
I highly recommend this book as literary historical non-fiction that’s enlightening, engaging and profoundly moving. Also, anyone who reads and likes Gone With the Wind should cover this title as well to balance the equation of what antebellum slavery and Reconstruction looked from the other side of the racial line.
Vyry is an earth goddess whose story we follow. She is the sole unsold offspring of a slave woman who bore 17 children to her white master. Her mother saw all her other children either die or be sold away. Vyry’s father never acknowledged her as his child, but extended some protection for her against his wife’s animus. Like most antebellum white southern wives, she took her anger and frustration of her husband’s sexual use of their slaves out on the women and the children of these rapes. But even so, Vyry is good down to her bones, and her story is an important part of the American tableau.
Vyry’s first husband is a stand-in for WEB DuBois that I was glad to have included.
I highly recommend this book as literary historical non-fiction that’s enlightening, engaging and profoundly moving. Also, anyone who reads and likes Gone With the Wind should cover this title as well to balance the equation of what antebellum slavery and Reconstruction looked from the other side of the racial line.
April 11, 2011
Imagine waking up each morning, knowing that your life was not yours to live, that you were under someone else's control. Imagine waking up and knowing that you had a hard day's labor, and you weren't getting paid. Imagine if you tried to "quit" this job, you would be whipped mercilessly.
For Elvira "Vyry" Brown, this wasn't anything to imagine, it was her life. Born a slave to her white master and his black slave mistress, fate was not on her side from the get go. Oh her early life, up until age six was charmed so to speak. Her only job was to play with her half sister and keep her company. That was until she reached working age... seven! After that Vyry's place on the plantation became clear, first as a house servant, later as the head cook. The story, written by Vyry's great-granddaughter Margaret Walker, takes us from her birth, through her life as a slave, to her eventual freedom. Her path to freedom was not easy but Vyry demonstrated an unquestionable faith throughout. She also demonstrated a kind and giving heart by taking care of the very people who persecuted her throughout life.
Margaret Walker heard the story of Vyry from her grandmother, Vyry's daughter Minna. How precious the words must have seemed!! You can feel the love and admiration through each paragraph of this book. It's not just an autobiography, it a family history and it's wonderfully written. I was drawn into this book from the beginning. The way that the author described the emotions and the plantation activities was so vivid. Having read other autobiographies about this time, I found that Margaret Walker is a top storyteller in this genre. By the time I finished this book, I had no doubt about the character of Vyry Brown.
Definitely a great read for a lover of African American history, Civil War buffs, and anyone who is interested in learning more about that time frame.
Love and Blessings!
Margaret
For Elvira "Vyry" Brown, this wasn't anything to imagine, it was her life. Born a slave to her white master and his black slave mistress, fate was not on her side from the get go. Oh her early life, up until age six was charmed so to speak. Her only job was to play with her half sister and keep her company. That was until she reached working age... seven! After that Vyry's place on the plantation became clear, first as a house servant, later as the head cook. The story, written by Vyry's great-granddaughter Margaret Walker, takes us from her birth, through her life as a slave, to her eventual freedom. Her path to freedom was not easy but Vyry demonstrated an unquestionable faith throughout. She also demonstrated a kind and giving heart by taking care of the very people who persecuted her throughout life.
Margaret Walker heard the story of Vyry from her grandmother, Vyry's daughter Minna. How precious the words must have seemed!! You can feel the love and admiration through each paragraph of this book. It's not just an autobiography, it a family history and it's wonderfully written. I was drawn into this book from the beginning. The way that the author described the emotions and the plantation activities was so vivid. Having read other autobiographies about this time, I found that Margaret Walker is a top storyteller in this genre. By the time I finished this book, I had no doubt about the character of Vyry Brown.
Definitely a great read for a lover of African American history, Civil War buffs, and anyone who is interested in learning more about that time frame.
Love and Blessings!
Margaret
October 9, 2019
This was a powerful book and a great story, based on the life of the author's great-grandmother. I don't doubt that all the events of this book either actually happened or could have happened just as they were depicted. The Antebellum years, Civil War and Reconstruction were a sad and dark time.
BUT, I could not connect emotionally with any of the characters in this book. Neither black not white, male or female, young or old, master or slave; even the main character of Vyry failed to make me care on a deeper level. It felt as though the characters in this novel were wooden marionettes marching across the pages to get the story told. Hence the three stars for what I was hoping to be a five star read. Kudos to Margaret Walker telling this story though. It couldn't have been easy to get this novel published in 1966, and my opinion is not shared by many others, since this edition I read is the 50th anniversary edition.
However, the forward by Nikki Giovanni gets an unqualified 5 stars. It moved me to tears.
BUT, I could not connect emotionally with any of the characters in this book. Neither black not white, male or female, young or old, master or slave; even the main character of Vyry failed to make me care on a deeper level. It felt as though the characters in this novel were wooden marionettes marching across the pages to get the story told. Hence the three stars for what I was hoping to be a five star read. Kudos to Margaret Walker telling this story though. It couldn't have been easy to get this novel published in 1966, and my opinion is not shared by many others, since this edition I read is the 50th anniversary edition.
However, the forward by Nikki Giovanni gets an unqualified 5 stars. It moved me to tears.
April 27, 2011
I picked up Jubilee at a time when I was horribly sick from the effects of toxic mold. Since toxic mold spits out toxins I became chemically sensitive. At the time I was living in a small room, no kitchen, no furniture, sleeping on the hardwood. I had nothing but a crock pot and four pieces of organic clothing fiercely wondering how I was going to survive in a toxic world. I was attracted to Jubilee and it saved me from collapsing into my own life. It is a courageous story of a Black American woman. I don't want to give it away but it is a must read for anyone wanting to be inspired and learn appreciation. I literally couldn't put it down. I carried it in my purse and read it at every opportunity. This is what literature is about.
February 29, 2016
I'm rating this one 3,5 stars!
Here's the Live show discussion I had with Danielle from OneSmallPaw and Tatiana from Musical Tati. Enjoy and let me know what you thought of Jubilee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qozie...
Here's the Live show discussion I had with Danielle from OneSmallPaw and Tatiana from Musical Tati. Enjoy and let me know what you thought of Jubilee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qozie...
May 3, 2017
I liked this story a lot, though it is wordy and lags in places. The author's research is extensive and as I have little more than a passing familiarity with the details of the Civil War it was much appreciated. More than the picture of slavery presented in this book, I appreciate the picture of reconstruction.
Also the portrayal of Northern Whites as rabidly racist as their southern counterparts is captured vividly.
The only real issue I have is the end when Vyry has a long speech about 'good white folk', forgiveness and her reliance on Christianity and God.
I don't support Respectability Politics. There is no value in forgiving unforgivable actions. People don't need to be forgiven, they need to be held accountable. I am an atheist and I don't understand how Christianity has such a foothold in the black community. The bible supports slavery that's enough for me to know the religion ain't for the descendants of enslaved peoples. Religion is always a heavy handed theme in these type novels. I was ok until the end. In truth Randall Ware is much closer to my politics.
Also the portrayal of Northern Whites as rabidly racist as their southern counterparts is captured vividly.
The only real issue I have is the end when Vyry has a long speech about 'good white folk', forgiveness and her reliance on Christianity and God.
I don't support Respectability Politics. There is no value in forgiving unforgivable actions. People don't need to be forgiven, they need to be held accountable. I am an atheist and I don't understand how Christianity has such a foothold in the black community. The bible supports slavery that's enough for me to know the religion ain't for the descendants of enslaved peoples. Religion is always a heavy handed theme in these type novels. I was ok until the end. In truth Randall Ware is much closer to my politics.
October 31, 2016
Library Hardcover
March 14, 2010
This was an excellent novel that author Margaret Walker developed depicting the pre and post antebellum life of a mulatto woman living in the South. Walker does an amazing job presenting the reader with the main character Vyry, who is born a slave and eventually experiences freedom after the conclusion of the Civil War. Vyry is shown as a strong willed woman with unwavering integrity, faith, and ambition. This book is definitely a classic within African American literature, which continues to reach and inspire many readers.
February 27, 2018
Historical fiction based on the life of the author’s maternal great grandmother, the daughter of a black slave and a white plantation owner. The protagonist, Vyry, is a strong, black woman with an admirable integrity of spirit in the face of severe adversity. She is a woman of faith doing the best she can for her family, as they suffer through slavery and then through continued racist torment during Reconstruction. It is split into three parts: Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction. I found the first and last parts the most impactful. In the middle part, the author assumes the reader is unaware of the specifics of the Civil War and provides a great deal of narrative context, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how much you already know.
In documenting the oral history of her family, supplemented by research, the author has created an engrossing story with an authentic flavor. Walker is adept at describing the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures and environment. The author intersperses lyrics from spirituals and other music of the era, which adds a cultural quality to the story. One segment I found particularly thought-provoking involves a discussion of three adults near the end, where Vyry vocalizes thoughts and dreams of racial harmony in an inspiring manner. Different approaches are expressed by her husband and former husband, including passive acceptance and assertive resistance. First published in 1966, this book withstands the test of time. Recommended to those interested in African American history or what life was like in the American south before, during, and after the Civil War. As may be expected in a novel relating the horrors of slavery, it contains graphic violence and racism.
Memorable quote:
In documenting the oral history of her family, supplemented by research, the author has created an engrossing story with an authentic flavor. Walker is adept at describing the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures and environment. The author intersperses lyrics from spirituals and other music of the era, which adds a cultural quality to the story. One segment I found particularly thought-provoking involves a discussion of three adults near the end, where Vyry vocalizes thoughts and dreams of racial harmony in an inspiring manner. Different approaches are expressed by her husband and former husband, including passive acceptance and assertive resistance. First published in 1966, this book withstands the test of time. Recommended to those interested in African American history or what life was like in the American south before, during, and after the Civil War. As may be expected in a novel relating the horrors of slavery, it contains graphic violence and racism.
Memorable quote:
“The true Jubilee will be the day that Earth embraces this universe granting love and freedom to all.”
September 24, 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
This was a story about slavery and it’s aftermath. The protagonist in the story is Vyry and the story begins while Vyry is still a child. It begins in the 1840’s, lasts thru the War between the States and takes us thru the Reconstruction period in the Deep South. Vyry is the daughter of a slave and the master; she is very light skinned and could almost pass for white. But her father’s (who never actually acknowledged her) wife hates Vyry and makes life even harder for her. Vyry grows up and becomes the head cook for the grand house of the plantation. Eventually Vyry falls for Randall Ware, a freedman and landowner with his own blacksmithing business, but the Dutton’s, her owners, refuse to allow her to marry him. She ends up having a son and daughter with him; as offspring of a slave, these children are destined to slavery as well. After the Civil war begins, Russell Ware heads north to help the Union Army. When the war is over, and emancipation is announced, Vyry stays on her plantation to help care for the lone surviving daughter of the Dutton family. Innis Brown shows up, and farms a portion of the old plantation and woos Vyry. She has been waiting for Russel Ware to return, but Vyry is told by another former slave who used to live on the Dutton plantation that he saw Russell Ware on his deathbed. Eventually, Vyry does marry Innis and Vyry has a third child, a son. The third and last portion of the book is about Vyry and Innis’ efforts to find a place to live and call home.
The character analysis of these three main characters I found to be quite interesting. Vyry has a strong belief in God, and pins all her hopes on her children’s education - she dreams that some day they learn to “read and cypher.” Innis is more passive - he believes in working hard and staying away from white men in order to keep his family safe. Russell is more like a modern day black militant; he firmly believes that whites will do everything they can to suppress blacks.
Published in 1966 by Margaret Walker, this novel has a folklore quality to it and is based on the life of the author’s great-grandmother who was a slave in Georgia. She tells Vyry’s story using the vernacular of an uneducated slave but it is reported she spent ten years doing the historical research of the time periods she covers. It is historical fiction at its best.
This was a story about slavery and it’s aftermath. The protagonist in the story is Vyry and the story begins while Vyry is still a child. It begins in the 1840’s, lasts thru the War between the States and takes us thru the Reconstruction period in the Deep South. Vyry is the daughter of a slave and the master; she is very light skinned and could almost pass for white. But her father’s (who never actually acknowledged her) wife hates Vyry and makes life even harder for her. Vyry grows up and becomes the head cook for the grand house of the plantation. Eventually Vyry falls for Randall Ware, a freedman and landowner with his own blacksmithing business, but the Dutton’s, her owners, refuse to allow her to marry him. She ends up having a son and daughter with him; as offspring of a slave, these children are destined to slavery as well. After the Civil war begins, Russell Ware heads north to help the Union Army. When the war is over, and emancipation is announced, Vyry stays on her plantation to help care for the lone surviving daughter of the Dutton family. Innis Brown shows up, and farms a portion of the old plantation and woos Vyry. She has been waiting for Russel Ware to return, but Vyry is told by another former slave who used to live on the Dutton plantation that he saw Russell Ware on his deathbed. Eventually, Vyry does marry Innis and Vyry has a third child, a son. The third and last portion of the book is about Vyry and Innis’ efforts to find a place to live and call home.
The character analysis of these three main characters I found to be quite interesting. Vyry has a strong belief in God, and pins all her hopes on her children’s education - she dreams that some day they learn to “read and cypher.” Innis is more passive - he believes in working hard and staying away from white men in order to keep his family safe. Russell is more like a modern day black militant; he firmly believes that whites will do everything they can to suppress blacks.
Published in 1966 by Margaret Walker, this novel has a folklore quality to it and is based on the life of the author’s great-grandmother who was a slave in Georgia. She tells Vyry’s story using the vernacular of an uneducated slave but it is reported she spent ten years doing the historical research of the time periods she covers. It is historical fiction at its best.
September 10, 2017
Why has it taken fifty years for me to find this excellent historical novel? It's the reverse side of Gone with the Wind, and oh, so much better. (I am not a fan of GwtW.)
September 21, 2020
I’ve had this book in my possession for over a decade. I picked it up at my college bookstore because it was on a required reading list for an introductory American History course I was taking, but for reasons I can’t quite remember, I ended up not needing it after all. It has moved with me multiple times, and over the years I’ve grown accustomed to turning it over with a wary eye, wondering when the time would come to read it but never feeling inclined to crack it open.
Well, the mood finally struck me. I bear no regret for the long delay; I believe with Nietzsche in the fatum libellorum, that every book has its own destiny and will present itself to the reader at just the right moment. And indeed, the moment is ripe for a book like this one.
Jubilee is the story of Vyry, the biracial daughter of a white plantation owner and a black slave in antebellum Georgia, a character based upon the author’s real great-grandmother. Born into slavery, disavowed by her father, hated by her mistress, brutalized by a dehumanizing institution, emancipated in the maelstrom of civil war, ostracized by resentful whites, harried by unscrupulous landlords, terrorized by the Ku Klux, her life is a harrowing trial of body and soul. The novel is unflinching in its portrayal of the grotesque barbarities of chattel slavery; and yet, to an extent that took me off guard, it is authentically and unabashedly Christian, aiming the thrust of its narrative arc squarely at a spirit of love and reconciliation.
It is bittersweet to note the year of publication—1966: after the march on Washington, the triumphs of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, and the promise of integration, but before the King assassination, the riots of ’68, the high water mark of the Vietnam War, and a great national weariness inaugurated by the mutually-reinforcing militancies of Dixiecrats and Black Pantherism. The sanctified state Vyry reaches near the end of the novel is emblematic of a few special moments of grace that have dappled the landscape of American history; but they are only moments, and they are always followed swiftly by vicious retrenchments of tribal egoism. We can only recognize these moments of light, understand them as disclosures of providence, and make our way haltingly towards them as toward a beacon in a dense fog.
Well, the mood finally struck me. I bear no regret for the long delay; I believe with Nietzsche in the fatum libellorum, that every book has its own destiny and will present itself to the reader at just the right moment. And indeed, the moment is ripe for a book like this one.
Jubilee is the story of Vyry, the biracial daughter of a white plantation owner and a black slave in antebellum Georgia, a character based upon the author’s real great-grandmother. Born into slavery, disavowed by her father, hated by her mistress, brutalized by a dehumanizing institution, emancipated in the maelstrom of civil war, ostracized by resentful whites, harried by unscrupulous landlords, terrorized by the Ku Klux, her life is a harrowing trial of body and soul. The novel is unflinching in its portrayal of the grotesque barbarities of chattel slavery; and yet, to an extent that took me off guard, it is authentically and unabashedly Christian, aiming the thrust of its narrative arc squarely at a spirit of love and reconciliation.
It is bittersweet to note the year of publication—1966: after the march on Washington, the triumphs of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, and the promise of integration, but before the King assassination, the riots of ’68, the high water mark of the Vietnam War, and a great national weariness inaugurated by the mutually-reinforcing militancies of Dixiecrats and Black Pantherism. The sanctified state Vyry reaches near the end of the novel is emblematic of a few special moments of grace that have dappled the landscape of American history; but they are only moments, and they are always followed swiftly by vicious retrenchments of tribal egoism. We can only recognize these moments of light, understand them as disclosures of providence, and make our way haltingly towards them as toward a beacon in a dense fog.
October 10, 2020
When it was new ... back in my social science undergrad time ... Book impressed me, informed me ... can't remember content now.
Here's helpful Kirkus ...
"KIRKUS REVIEW
At first glance this Houghton Mifflin Prize Novel seems to travel the well worn sweet persimmon trail of Civil War novels--sparsely faceted characters bolstered by research into the vagaries of General Sherman's bristling and ragtag hordes. However, it is perhaps just because of the shades of the old Scarlet sagas, that this book achieves its peculiar poignancy, for the gallant South is reconstructed here through the living of Vyry, a young Negro woman, born a slave, natural, unclaimed child of the ""Marster"". Christmas at the Big House is dawn to nightime toil in a steaming kitchen; Young Marster Going Off to War anticipates the painful and wonderful idea of a rumor called Freedom; Sherman's terrible ride means the ""Year of Jubillo,"" and the Dispersion means a beginning rather than an end. Vyry accepted as a child the bewildering cruelty of separations, torture at the hands of a high strung mistress with a child's natural dignity and sad innocence. As a young woman, mother of two and presumably widow of Randall Ware, a proud freeman, Vyry marries Innes and attempts to lead the hardworking, decorous life of a free woman after the war. But a flood and the KKK wipe out their struggling endeavors, until ironically, a hostile white community accepts the family because Vyry's services as a midwife are needed. Randall returns, and to Vyry's joy, takes their son to educate him for freedom. An affecting novel, carried handsomely by the subject.
Here's helpful Kirkus ...
"KIRKUS REVIEW
At first glance this Houghton Mifflin Prize Novel seems to travel the well worn sweet persimmon trail of Civil War novels--sparsely faceted characters bolstered by research into the vagaries of General Sherman's bristling and ragtag hordes. However, it is perhaps just because of the shades of the old Scarlet sagas, that this book achieves its peculiar poignancy, for the gallant South is reconstructed here through the living of Vyry, a young Negro woman, born a slave, natural, unclaimed child of the ""Marster"". Christmas at the Big House is dawn to nightime toil in a steaming kitchen; Young Marster Going Off to War anticipates the painful and wonderful idea of a rumor called Freedom; Sherman's terrible ride means the ""Year of Jubillo,"" and the Dispersion means a beginning rather than an end. Vyry accepted as a child the bewildering cruelty of separations, torture at the hands of a high strung mistress with a child's natural dignity and sad innocence. As a young woman, mother of two and presumably widow of Randall Ware, a proud freeman, Vyry marries Innes and attempts to lead the hardworking, decorous life of a free woman after the war. But a flood and the KKK wipe out their struggling endeavors, until ironically, a hostile white community accepts the family because Vyry's services as a midwife are needed. Randall returns, and to Vyry's joy, takes their son to educate him for freedom. An affecting novel, carried handsomely by the subject.
April 3, 2020
Jubilee is a competent novel about an important historical subject. Margaret Walker put years of research into this fictionalized account of her grandmother's story. I do not regret reading it, and it kept my interest.
However, as far as novels about this subject matter go, this is not a remarkable one. The prose is pedestrian and contains a fair share of redundancies and awkward phrasing. The characters do not develop much, and their actions do not necessarily have motivations behind them. They simply do what's needed to move the novel forward. Occasionally Walker dives into the inner lives of her characters, but for the most part, she tells the story at surface level. Despite the atrocities chronicled here, the reader never feels the whole brunt of them, as though they've been sanitized for a general audience.
Walker does a good job of structuring a story that takes place over such a long period of time. She also excels at covering several character points-of-view. Sometimes the narrative shifts from Vyry to her first husband, Randall Ware. Walker explores the differences in class among black people in this period--Randall was born free and works as a blacksmith, although nothing saves even an upper class black man from the Klan.
In the end, as far as books about slavery go, I would recommend Beloved by Toni Morrison and Kindred by Octavia E. Butler over this one, without a doubt. The former is a challenging read that delves into a former slave's psychology, while the latter is a simpler read with much better developed characters than Jubilee. Both tales take advantage of the medium of writing better than this one.
However, as far as novels about this subject matter go, this is not a remarkable one. The prose is pedestrian and contains a fair share of redundancies and awkward phrasing. The characters do not develop much, and their actions do not necessarily have motivations behind them. They simply do what's needed to move the novel forward. Occasionally Walker dives into the inner lives of her characters, but for the most part, she tells the story at surface level. Despite the atrocities chronicled here, the reader never feels the whole brunt of them, as though they've been sanitized for a general audience.
Walker does a good job of structuring a story that takes place over such a long period of time. She also excels at covering several character points-of-view. Sometimes the narrative shifts from Vyry to her first husband, Randall Ware. Walker explores the differences in class among black people in this period--Randall was born free and works as a blacksmith, although nothing saves even an upper class black man from the Klan.
In the end, as far as books about slavery go, I would recommend Beloved by Toni Morrison and Kindred by Octavia E. Butler over this one, without a doubt. The former is a challenging read that delves into a former slave's psychology, while the latter is a simpler read with much better developed characters than Jubilee. Both tales take advantage of the medium of writing better than this one.
July 1, 2022
This book was a "this is why i read" experience for me. Excellent character development and plot. Some topics are painful to read (slavery, violence, racism, etc.) though appropriately addressed. The spiritual content was inspiring, as the main character seeks Jesus to help her overcome the pain she and her family are experiencing.
There is also something unique for women here. Vyry is a strong woman facing difficult, even impossible circumstances. She is criticize by both whites and blacks for how she responds, but remains an example of bearing up under difficulty. You won't always agree with decisions she makes, but you can understand the areas she fails in/ struggles with, and remain amazed that she does emerge as strong as she does. This would be an excellent read for a mom and daughter to discuss (though an older daughter because of some of the issues of racism and violence).
i cannot recommend this book highly enough.
It is widely believed that Alex Haley plagerised from Jubilee in writing Roots. The main character, Vyry (and her mother, Sis Hetta whose death opens the book) seem to have 'inspired' Haley's character Kizzy. But, as obvious as that was, perhaps the biggest thing Haley lifted from Jubilee was the idea to write about one's descendants and that such knowledge was important for the coming generations. Walker's dedication communicates this intention with less dramatic flair than Haley's mendacious claims.
For my review and research on Alex Haley and Roots (as well as some healthy GoodReads discussion/ debate), see:
Roots, Haley, 1976
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For another brilliant novel by an African American woman, see:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston, 1937
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There is also something unique for women here. Vyry is a strong woman facing difficult, even impossible circumstances. She is criticize by both whites and blacks for how she responds, but remains an example of bearing up under difficulty. You won't always agree with decisions she makes, but you can understand the areas she fails in/ struggles with, and remain amazed that she does emerge as strong as she does. This would be an excellent read for a mom and daughter to discuss (though an older daughter because of some of the issues of racism and violence).
i cannot recommend this book highly enough.
It is widely believed that Alex Haley plagerised from Jubilee in writing Roots. The main character, Vyry (and her mother, Sis Hetta whose death opens the book) seem to have 'inspired' Haley's character Kizzy. But, as obvious as that was, perhaps the biggest thing Haley lifted from Jubilee was the idea to write about one's descendants and that such knowledge was important for the coming generations. Walker's dedication communicates this intention with less dramatic flair than Haley's mendacious claims.
For my review and research on Alex Haley and Roots (as well as some healthy GoodReads discussion/ debate), see:
Roots, Haley, 1976
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For another brilliant novel by an African American woman, see:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston, 1937
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
July 10, 2008
Jubilee holds the true story of Vyry, the daughter of a plantation owner and his slave mistress. What made this book one of my new favorites is how well written it is...a combination of history that I never knew and this personal story of a great heroine. Vyry is like no other. She refuses to judge or hate but remains strong in the face of injustice. She loves, works, experiences loss, works, loves, experiences inhumanity over and over again. This book rivals Uncle Tom's Cabin for me...but allows for a female perspective. One important side note is how the author (the great grandaughter of Vyry) does not write a one sided story (which would be understandable)... there is a story of pain for the plantation owners and the people of the South too. War devastates. Still, Vyry remains triumphant. She is a testament to how much the human heart can withstand and forgive and love.
January 26, 2021
Incredible. This should be required reading.
March 22, 2025
20th book read in 2025
This is one of the best books I have read so far in 2025. It is the story of Vyry, child of a white plantation owner and his Black mistress, a slave. Vyry’s mother died giving birth to her 16th child, some were her husband’s and some were her master’s children. The setting is Georgia where plantation life flourished but abolitionists in the North were beginning to stir up trouble. It follows Vyry’s life from the Ante-Bellum years though the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Throughout the book Margaret Walker shows both sides of the story. What life was like for slaves and what it was like for plantation owners. She also shows how Negro spirituals came to be and how they were sung by the slaves to give them hope for freedom. As Vyry grows up, mothered by the Black cook for the family in the Big House, she becomes a consummate cook herself. Her ability to put together enormous meals every day for the Master and his family gives her a sense of purpose, strength and the ability to organize all the details surrounding food.
But Vyry longs for freedom and takes up with a free Black man who gives her a child along with promises to take her North to freedom. When that freedom does not materialize for her, she marries another slave, has more children, and once emancipation finally comes, they leave the plantation and journey from place to place to find a home and make a farm. She also manages to get her children educated.
Margaret Walker was an award-winning Black poet, born in 1915 to a scholar and a musician. They bequeathed to her a love of literature, poetry and music. She learned the story of her great-grandmother, the inspiration for Vyry, from her maternal grandmother. She eventually earned a PhD from the University of Iowa, while raising four of her own children.
Vyry is a stunning character. She is very light skinned, her hair almost blonde, but has the stamina and faith of her Black heritage. The incidents in her life range from drudgery, danger and brutality to moments of triumph when she perseveres against all odds. She really does sing while she slaves, but other times she does “pass” with good results.
The final scenes of the book are a testament to how enslaved people learned to love others despite their dire life experiences. It is a shout-out to strong women. The entire story demonstrates the power of faith and song to sustain and give hope to a people without agency or safety. The title is from a spiritual:
“We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
for the year of Jubilee!
Every round goes higher, higher,
Every round goes higher, higher,
Every round goes higher, higher,
to the year of Jubilee.
This is one of the best books I have read so far in 2025. It is the story of Vyry, child of a white plantation owner and his Black mistress, a slave. Vyry’s mother died giving birth to her 16th child, some were her husband’s and some were her master’s children. The setting is Georgia where plantation life flourished but abolitionists in the North were beginning to stir up trouble. It follows Vyry’s life from the Ante-Bellum years though the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Throughout the book Margaret Walker shows both sides of the story. What life was like for slaves and what it was like for plantation owners. She also shows how Negro spirituals came to be and how they were sung by the slaves to give them hope for freedom. As Vyry grows up, mothered by the Black cook for the family in the Big House, she becomes a consummate cook herself. Her ability to put together enormous meals every day for the Master and his family gives her a sense of purpose, strength and the ability to organize all the details surrounding food.
But Vyry longs for freedom and takes up with a free Black man who gives her a child along with promises to take her North to freedom. When that freedom does not materialize for her, she marries another slave, has more children, and once emancipation finally comes, they leave the plantation and journey from place to place to find a home and make a farm. She also manages to get her children educated.
Margaret Walker was an award-winning Black poet, born in 1915 to a scholar and a musician. They bequeathed to her a love of literature, poetry and music. She learned the story of her great-grandmother, the inspiration for Vyry, from her maternal grandmother. She eventually earned a PhD from the University of Iowa, while raising four of her own children.
Vyry is a stunning character. She is very light skinned, her hair almost blonde, but has the stamina and faith of her Black heritage. The incidents in her life range from drudgery, danger and brutality to moments of triumph when she perseveres against all odds. She really does sing while she slaves, but other times she does “pass” with good results.
The final scenes of the book are a testament to how enslaved people learned to love others despite their dire life experiences. It is a shout-out to strong women. The entire story demonstrates the power of faith and song to sustain and give hope to a people without agency or safety. The title is from a spiritual:
“We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
for the year of Jubilee!
Every round goes higher, higher,
Every round goes higher, higher,
Every round goes higher, higher,
to the year of Jubilee.
March 27, 2023
The last 50 pages or so are excruciatingly moralizing, and the overall "arc of history bends toward justice" messaging is too pat, but given that this was written in the 60s I see why Walker felt it was the right direction to go.
Otherwise, Jubilee is an extremely readable and accessible epic of the American South. Brutal and sweet in all the right places. It's a little too straightforward for its own good, both in terms of plot and character psychology, but it evokes the history and the landscape that it wants to evoke. It's a complete and accomplished novel even if it felt too linear. Like, you have to admire the clarity of intention here. Walker also grants interiority and sympathy to people who most readers today would feel deserve none, which I found very interesting.
Otherwise, Jubilee is an extremely readable and accessible epic of the American South. Brutal and sweet in all the right places. It's a little too straightforward for its own good, both in terms of plot and character psychology, but it evokes the history and the landscape that it wants to evoke. It's a complete and accomplished novel even if it felt too linear. Like, you have to admire the clarity of intention here. Walker also grants interiority and sympathy to people who most readers today would feel deserve none, which I found very interesting.
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