Synopses & Reviews
Zack Lane knows about his father's side of the family -- they are descendants of Romanian Jews -- but his black mother broke all ties with her family before Zack was born. Why she did so is the "Family Mystery."
Uprooted by his parents' move to the outskirts of a small town, Zack is friendless and at the lowest point in his life. He undertakes a research project into the life of Richard Pierpoint, former African slave, soldier in the War of 1812, and the pioneer farmer who cleared the land on which Zack's house now stands. Pierpoint's story inspires Zack to go to Mississippi to look for his maternal grandfather. What he discovers shakes the foundations of all he has believed in.
About the Author
William Bell is the author of Crabbe's Journey and Forbidden City, which has been translated into eight languages. He holds master's degrees in both literature and education. Currently the head of English at Orillia Collegiate, Ontario, he has also taught at the University of British Columbia as well as colleges in Beijing and Harbin in China.
Table of Contents
Contents Introduction: The Northwest Territory
Black Pathfinders and Native Americans
War, Race, and Slavery in the Ohio Valley
Pioneer Farmers of the Ohio Valley
The Determination of Sarah Jane Woodson
Peter H. Clark's Cincinnati
A Railroad's "Fierce Passions"
The Malvins of Cleveland
The Fight for Liberty in Indiana
"Warfare and Strife" in Illinois
The "Order of the Men of Oppression"
The Iowa of Alexander Clark
Wisconsin Battles "The Heel of Oppression"
The Greys of Minnesota
From Missouri to Kansas: The Odyssey of Henry Clay Bruce
From "Alien and Stranger" to U.S. Army Officer
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index