The Ties Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory and Redemption by Bertice Berry

I've always been intrigued by African American history, so I picked up and thumbed through this book. The story begins by explaining the background of an earlier fiction novel by Bertice Berry, who wrote of the horrors and struggles of slavery. The villainous slave owner in her novel was a Mr. John Hunn, a name she drew from the old stories her mother and her mother's mother would tell.

But Bertrice, a self proclaimed 'soul sista' from the 70's, had gotten the history wrong. This man she had been told owned the farm on which her ancestor worked on was not the villain she had ignorantly assumed he was. Dramatically, while sitting by her mother's deathbed in the hospital, Bertice watches a PBS special on abolitionists. John Hunn was actually the southern-most conductor of the Underground Railroad. Oops. The book continues with the author telling her life and how the history of her ancestors and the American people have shaped and influenced her through family, society, education and culture, for better and worse. What an eye-opening, insightful read!