Finding Martha's Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island [Hardcover]

Although I was already a fan of Jill Nelson, chiefly because of her journalistic integrity and clever sense of perspective, I was looking forward to reading about this nearly unheard portion of the American population. African-Americans on Martha's Vineyard? Yet, it is the sheer beauty of this book which made me slow down and savor each sand-colored page.

The best mark of a good journalist is when they disappear from the interview. As Ms. Nelson takes the reader along to visit with each long time resident, it feels as if you are sitting on a porch with a tall glass of iced tea and listening to a favorite family story while the author is absent. She only returns in those brief chapters where she shares what the island has meant to her and her family. In these, she weaves an intimate homage to her mother and the community on the island. Alison Shaw's exquisite photographs add to the magic of this book where the reader notices all aspects of the island's residents, from beauty to gentleness, power to erudition, artistry to elegance and sometimes, simply, survival

For those of us who can still remember when summers were spent running and playing with few cares in the world, a pang of bittersweet nostalgia will accompany this book. It documents a time where Martha's Vineyard was a refuge from the mad rush and often ugly world on the mainland. I will cherish this book for a long time.

One of the residents of Martha's Vinyard is quoted in this book as saying that it is a microcosm of the United States. It isn't, it's a microcosm of what the United States SHOULD BE.

Vernon Jordan, is quoted as saying, 'there was a time when the Vineyard was the only spot for successful black people, and in many ways it still is.' And that's good. There should be places where the stresses of our daily lives are relaxed regardless of the color barrier.

Perhaps it's the isolation, perhaps the income level, but I read this book while 26,000 National Guard troops are being sent to New Orleans. There the mostly black, unbelievably poor are reportedly shooting at the helicopters bringing releif supplies into the city. This is not going to contribute to the long term state of race relations.

This book is good to read just to show what a delightful place the world could be.

For Jill Nelson, Martha's Vineyard has become more than a vacation spot. It is a place of rejuvenation and rebirth, inspiration and motivation. She shares everything this island has come to embody to many of its black residents in FINDING MARTHA'S VINEYARD: African Americans at Home on an Island. Tracing the roots of the island's black inhabitants to slaves and servants brought there by their owners/employers, Jill Nelson follows this trail to the modern day residents who are slowly seeing their way of life slipping away as the once all-black communities become more integrated.

Sustained primarily with interviews of African-American residents of Martha's Vineyard, the book is part memoir, but at the same time, part travelogue, part history, and part cookbook. One interview subject, Vernon Jordan, former presidential advisor to Bill Clinton and former Urban League president, reminisces that the constituency of the black residents has changed over the years. Back in the `70s when he first started visiting the island, every person there was a doctor, lawyer, or teacher - the epitome of W.E.B. Dubois' Talented Tenth. Now, the gamut is expanded. You see black businesspeople, investment bankers, and CEOs.

Nelson also explores the social and artistic outlets on the island. The island has offered social outlets to black middle class families who struggle to interact with more African-American families as their economic status rises and their subdivisions become whiter. Many of these families have been coming to Martha's Vineyard for generations, as evidenced by the Shearer family who have owned a house on the island since the turn of the twentieth century. The island has also offered artistic freedom to writers, painters, sculptors, and others who seek the complacency of the island to hone their craft. This island has been home to many famous artists, academicians, and politicians.

Jill Nelson vividly describes life on Martha's Vineyard in this all-encompassing work. FINDING MARTHA'S VINEYARD is lyrical in style when Nelson uses her own voice, but just as entrancing when hearing the voices of the residents. Their recollections and obvious joy in sharing their past, including a few family recipes, gives the work a unique allure. Historically accurate and socially stimulating, readers will feel like they have spent a good portion of their lives on this island as well.

Reviewed by Kim Anderson Ray

of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews  4.6 out of 5 stars