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justabean_reads 's review for:
informative
slow-paced
The first maybe third of this was absolutely fascinating, after which point it kind of faltered.
The first third was the story of the author's heritage as a descendant of Cherokee Freedmen and Muskogee Creek, and a whole bunch of other people, and how the legal intersection of Indigenous, Black and white heritage has shifted over the last two hundred years. Specifically, there was quite a bit about how the legal system applied the one-drop rule to anyone with Black ancestors, automatically removing them from discussion of blood quantum. There's a fascinating section about one of Davis' grandfathers who basically picked the official racial status of his children depending on how advantageous it would be in relation to acquiring land (so his sons tended to be white, and his daughters Indigenous). There was also quite about whose stories got recorded, and how, and various legal battles about all of the above, all mixed in with family oral history.
All of that was great! But it probably clocked in at a hundred pages, followed by about fifty pages on race theory in America, which felt muddled and repetitive, followed by a bunch of original documents and court transcripts, the meaning of which had been discussed in the first part.
Basically, I wish the author had expanded on the first section, and added more historical context, rather than making page count with filler.
The first third was the story of the author's heritage as a descendant of Cherokee Freedmen and Muskogee Creek, and a whole bunch of other people, and how the legal intersection of Indigenous, Black and white heritage has shifted over the last two hundred years. Specifically, there was quite a bit about how the legal system applied the one-drop rule to anyone with Black ancestors, automatically removing them from discussion of blood quantum. There's a fascinating section about one of Davis' grandfathers who basically picked the official racial status of his children depending on how advantageous it would be in relation to acquiring land (so his sons tended to be white, and his daughters Indigenous). There was also quite about whose stories got recorded, and how, and various legal battles about all of the above, all mixed in with family oral history.
All of that was great! But it probably clocked in at a hundred pages, followed by about fifty pages on race theory in America, which felt muddled and repetitive, followed by a bunch of original documents and court transcripts, the meaning of which had been discussed in the first part.
Basically, I wish the author had expanded on the first section, and added more historical context, rather than making page count with filler.