Walking Gentry Home: A Memoir of My Foremothers in Verse

by Alora Young

An "extraordinary" (Laurie Halse Anderson) young poet traces the lives of her foremothers in West Tennessee, from those enslaved centuries ago to her grandmother, her mother, and finally herself, in this stunning debut celebrating Black girlhood and womanhood throughout American history.

"A masterpiece that beautifully captures the heartbreak that accompanies coming of age for Black girls becoming Black women."--Evette Dionne, author of Lifting as We Climb, longlisted for the National Book Award

Walking Gentry Home tells the story of Alora Young's ancestors, from the unnamed women forgotten by the historical record but brought to life through Young's imagination; to Amy, the first of Young's foremothers to arrive in Tennessee, buried in an unmarked grave, unlike the white man who enslaved her and fathered her child; through Young's great-grandmother Gentry, unhappily married at fourteen; to her own mother, the teenage beauty queen rejected by her white neighbors; down to Young in the present day as she leaves childhood behind and becomes a young woman.

The lives of these girls and women come together to form a unique American epic in verse, one that speaks of generational curses, coming of age, homes and small towns, fleeting loves and lasting consequences, and the brutal and ever-present legacy of slavery in our nation's psyche. Each poem is a story in verse, and together they form a heart-wrenching and inspiring family saga of girls and women connected through blood and history.

Informed by archival research, the last will and testament of an enslaver, formal interviews, family lore, and even a DNA test, Walking Gentry Home gives voice to those too often muted in America: Black girls and women.

Genres: Poetry, Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Race, Feminism, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2022

About the author

Alora Young is a college student, an actor, and the Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States. Her poetry has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she has performed her poetry on CNN, CBS, and the TEDx stage. Young currently attends Swarthmore College.

Reviews

[Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a powerful book about the lives of Black women in one family, named and unnamed, that is also about Black women in America in general from the beginning of time to the present day. Alora is a young voice but she speaks with the voices of her ancestral mothers. This is certainly a book that you have to sit and process. Did I say it was powerful?

[Mama Cass aka Bookhugger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last time I was this moved by a poetess I was reading Maya Angelou, I LOVE poetry, and have been reading and writing it since I was a child. Moved by the rhythms and beauty of the allegories that poetry brings, became a huge fan of Slyvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, and countless others. I tend to be a bit picky about what I consider good and truthfully the last one I liked was Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb". Until I read Alora Young's "Walking Gentry Home". Alora has created a beautiful tapestry of pictures of her foremothers in powerful and vibrant colors, weaving the luxurious strength of Black history. I learned a lot in this thought-provoking collection, I cried more than a few tears too. This is beautiful and I am so happy and honored to have read and highly recommend this. This talented poet has a lovely voice that we need to hear.

Thank you to Random House Publishing, NetGalley and to Alora Young for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest and non-paid review.

[johnny ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

a healing journey of ancestor work. black poetic excellence. why aren't more people talking about this? i'm in tears.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of this book blew me away. Tracing her maternal lineage through verse, fining voice to her ancestors, Young took up an ambitious task and had many successes. Following key moments in her grandmother and mother’s lives, Young explores the challenges of the transition into womanhood, society’s expectations, and the limiting nature of the small town she (and they) grew up in. For as much pain and questioning is embedded in this verse, there is equal amount of joy and pride. I got a bit lost in the structure and voice at times. The book is linear, but not, moving through time in periods of each persons point of view. And in each section, she tends to switch voice—-from naming the subject of the poem to using I, which sometimes feels like claiming the voice of that ancestor, and other times felt like her own interjection. There may be a sense of the collective she was reaching for here. Overall, ambitious and worth the read.

[Kat(ja) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I was provided with an eARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, which was first published on Life and Other Disasters!*

CW: slavery, racism, rape, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, teen marriage, loss of loved ones

Walking Gentry Home by Alora Young is a book, or should I say memoir, told in verse. That in itself is something you don't come across every day, never mind find a review for on my blog. I will be the first to admit that I'm no expert on the matter, so I want to clarify that these thoughts I'm trying to compile are mostly based on what the writing made me feel - and that was a lot.

I've tried to learn a bit about my family's history, but there's many gaps and missing pieces, so I was impressed by what Alora Young uncovered and managed to bring to life on the page. Not only did she find a way to give a voice to generations that came before her, but she did so with few and yet impacting words. Her verses faced harsh realities of generational pain and trauma, but also let the light of mother- and womanhood shine through. As we followed key moments in Young's maternal ancestry, I felt the connection and ties grow beneath each one of them and me as a reader. Sometimes it was as if we read from their perspectives, sometimes it was told from Alora Young's POV and other times it almost felt like a collective consciousness.

I know this is quite the brief review, but I thought Walking Gentry Home was masterfully done. I felt the emotional tether throughout, even if I got mixed up with the timeline sometimes. All of it seems not just rooted in Young's personal family history, but that of Black history in America in general. Often thought-provoking and unflinchingly honest, it is sure to linger in your mind.

Fazit: 5/5 stars! Wonderful and impacting family history!

[elea ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A powerful and beautifully written book, that needs to be read by more people !

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very powerful and one I had to process and will continue to do so. And definitely revisit. Very highly recommended and I encourage you to read it.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how this book was organized. The author focuses on her female ancestry, going back as far as she can find records and ending with a section about herself. It’s a beautifully written history of a family. Look forward to reading whatever Alora Young writes next. Recommend.

[gingerfordays · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very impactful and powerful collection of poetry that chronicles the author’s maternal ancestry from the first person in her family to touch American soil (as a slave) all the way to the author in present day (a young woman gifted with words and the strength to use them).

I highly recommend this, but especially if you are a native Tennessean, like me.

[Haerlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books in verse
are lyrical.
Walking Gentry Home: A Memoir of My Foremothers
exemplifies this.
It pays homage to the Black women in her family
and mine
and me.

[Karna Converse]

family stories and coming of age


Young, 2021 Youth Poet Laureate for the Southern United States, explores the maternal side of her ancestry which she can name back to 1796. The 120 poems recognize each individual's transition from girlhood to womanhood—some who are dark- and some who are light-skinned— amid the societal constructs of the time period. In the final section, she tells her own story by acknowledging how she carries her ancestor's stories within her but also that "I am not just my mother's daughter." These words from one of the last poems in the book, "Athena and Ida," reveal that transformation.

As I write this, I have eight months and twenty-three days
before I'm old enough to vote in this country
I've got negative seventeen years three months and seven days
since your votes began affecting me.
They sat the meek shall inherit the earth,
but they inherit the laws and the wrongs as well.
The children are left when all is done
to rebuild the empires that fell.
We the people must contend that
there are laws we must amend
even when those in power try to bend and break us.
But when resolves start to shake we must resolve to stay
awake
because the things that tear us down are what awake us.

I enjoyed this unique structure for tracing family history and appreciate the depth of genealogical research undertaken.

2023 Des Moines Library Challenge. Bonus Read: April Poetry Month

[D'Linda Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75⭐️
Loved this piece of art so much! This book spans over generations of the history of this country through her (our) people, through slavery, through segregation, through the Black Tax, through still not being “good enough”, to being what our ancestors fought for. This was such an inspiring piece and I’m so impressed with the authors way of words and visualizing everything. This is a tough read as anything that’s true with our history, it’s not black and white like our history books want us to believe it is now. The only very very tiny issue I had was the timeline and the characters in the beginning, you think you’re following one timeline of a family but really it’s the family but still it’s the black community as a black people in it’s entirety.

TW: racism, slavery

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness! This book was absolutely amazing! It was everything! I really loved the concept of Alora recounting the lives of her foremothers through verse. It was interesting to read about her family history, the small town she and her foremothers lived in, and the changes in history.

Walking Gentry Home was absolutely a beautiful book to read, and I think everyone should read it. Well done, Alora, well done!

*Thank you Netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.*

[BiblioBrandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The only way to tell this story is through poetry. Because black girlhood is eternally laced with rhythm." In this memoir-in-verse, Young traces her ancestry back to Amy Coleman, an enslaved woman who bore her white enslaver's child. Young appears seven generations later. Through beautiful poetry, Young explores the lives of her foremothers, Black girlhood, womanhood, and American history.

"Mothers are harshest when their hope is helping you avoid making the mistakes that had once their own."

[Melanie (Mel) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every single person on the planet should read Alora's incredible words.

My more colorful friends will find these verses profoundly wise and familiar, and my paler complexioned compatriots, especially those who perhaps know only the history taught to them in high school classes, will find themselves walking away from this collection with a greater sense of understanding and compassion for the people they may have otherwise dismissed with words like "slavery ended 200 years ago, get over it."

For every white person who has ever asked me how they're privileged for being white, especially if they were disadvantaged in some other way, such as being poor...I offer you Black Tax and Black Tax Continued...as well as Cannibalism, Present Day, Tennessee. On the other side of the coin, for every young black girl who is wondering if this is it, if all there is to look to in life is pain and fighting, I offer you A Thousand Generations and Convocation. The entire collection is bittersweet, as I find myself loving Monette and Gentry as if they were my own mothers...and knowing how they suffered unbelieveably painful things just for a different skin tone makes me feel riotous rage. Learning the stories of these mothers that are denied to us by history on the whole was an incredibly emotional and extremely rewarding experience...and I can only hope that stories like theirs will never go untold again.

To all who push against the idea that white privilege isn't real, or that things are so easy these days, stop asking for handouts...I insist you take a minute to sit down, shut your mouth, and open your ears to the experiences of those not like yourself. You'll find rather quickly that centuries of generational racial trauma do not go quietly into that good night when echoes of what was done to you and your kin are everywhere, especially in the deep south. If your people were slaughtered like cattle, prevented from advancing socially, adademically, and emotionally, and otherwise 'othered' by any and all American Dreams, you'd be pissed, too.

Particular favorites by Young have to be Black Tax Continued, Athena and Ida, and A Question of Privilege, AP Geography, District 5, Nashville, TN, 2018. As Man and Wife, 1984 also holds a soft spot in my heart as the stepchild of a father who stepped up where the biological dad failed. Almost every poem in this collection brought pinpricks of raw emotion to the corners of my eye, and if this is what future generations will bring to the table, I really think that the kids are alright.

Catch me collecting all of Alora Young's poetry collections like Pokemon cards and yelling about how everyone should do the same.

[Alicia Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been making my way through all the recommendations I got for A Book a Month in 2023. And I'm on book #6 - Latasha’s recommendation of Walking Gentry Home. And this excerpt really stood out to me:

"It's not my tomorrow I'm fighting for
It's my daughter's
I'll stand guard at her door
As grandma waded in the waters"

I felt that. Hard. But I also decided to look up more about the history of Wade in the Water. And whoo is it powerful. I don't think it ever really connected what its meaning is, but it does now.

I highly recommend reading Walking Gentry Home by Alora Young. It's a book of poetry that shines a light on growing up in a society that hates you - even when we've made progress. And through that progress, no matter what happens, we always have hope, that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. Black women are strong, loud, powerful, and forceful - but forgiving, loving and full of pride in all who come from them and before them.

Read. This. Book. And listen to the song. Gain some perspective. And let that stay with you.

#BlackIsBeautiful

[Andrea Timmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, insightful, emotional...a must read.

[Jacqueline Manley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whatever words I use to write this review will never hold a candle to the words inside this book. It’s a breathtakingly powerful one that will stick with you long after you’ve read the last page.

[Sam Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook, and it was a PERFORMANCE, worth every penny and more. This book is absolutely brilliant. It’s a creative way of both processing and presenting the traumatic research that is your ancestry you’re very much proud of, and it was so relatable. It was a quick listen, and while difficult at times, it was absolutely beautiful.

[Dani Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and beautifully written book of verses about a woman and her maternal lineage. This book moved me in many ways, and I would gladly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

[DC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often cry over books, but other kinds of emoting are more rare. This book feels a bit like a conversation, like a poetry slam, like a friend. I gasped and exclaimed and said mmm-hmm.

Beautiful.

[Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the poetry. They told stories and gave insight to her history.

[Shiv · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very lyrical piece. It's a story but it rhymes in the best ways. I really enjoyed it.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This powerful memoir in verse is a beautiful achievement and a great tribute to a family legacy and story that could have so easily gone untold. I really admire what Young was able to achieve here and how she brought so many generations of her family to life in her poetry. I could see this as a prose memoir or even a novel on the scale of Homegoing or The Love Songs of WEB DuBois, but the choice to tell this story in verse lends an intimacy to it, not to mention being able to deeply feel Young’s own emotions about history and heritage, her fears and hopefulness for the future, and her determination to keep these stories alive. Even if the style of poetry is not what I tend to gravitate towards, I am really impressed with this book and look forward to seeing what is next for this young author.

[Rachel (storybookcorner) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful and beautifully written story told in verse. I felt every bit of the emotion in Alora's words. There is so much I want to say, but I haven't figured out how to put into words. Please pick up this book and read it!! If you're not touched by this book, I don't know what to say.

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC for my honest review!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally do not read poetry but was provided this as an ARC copy. I loved the memoir style - it flowed together so well from beginning to end. It read as a story, just like novels I'm usually drawn towards, but the prose helped pick out the most important parts of Young's history. This was beautifully written by and author with a strong and necessary voice.

[Cherokee Winchester · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be so young, Yey have such heart and powerful words! It’s good really good! I am honored to be a winner of this book!

8-2-2022 go buy this!

Way to go Ms. Alora Young

[Linh · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely amazing memoir. I’ve been trying to get back into readings, so picking up a poetry book sounded like a good idea. Needless to say, it is easier to read when the story and writing is phenomal. I wish I could get this book in hardcover, but I guess I’ll have to wait for the anniversary edition

[Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read one nonfiction book this year, make it this one

Walking Gentry Home is a powerful debut from 19 year old Alora Young. Read if you enjoy Elizabeth Acevedo and Kwame Alexander.

Highly recommend the audiobook narrated by the author for the true In Verse experience!

Alora Young chronicles several generations of Black women in her family. A beautiful family saga through ancestral story-telling

[Eiji T]

This book, as an audio-book read by the author, was fantastic!