Even though Sewing Annie Coats and her son, Gabriel, have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice as they prepare for the encroaching war between the States.
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Even though Sewing Annie Coats and her son, Gabriel, have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice as they prepare for the encroaching war between the States.
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Set from the mid-1850's to about 1870, Breena Clarke's historical novel "Stand the Storm" (2008) tells the story of a persevering African American family that through its own efforts makes the difficult path from slavery to freedom. The story begins in southern Maryland on a plantation owned by one Jonathan Ridley. The primary characters are a woman known as Sewing Annie, who as her name implies is renowned for her skill with the needle, her son Gabriel, and her daughter Ellen. Gabriel is the pride of Annie and inherits much of her talent. Ellen, the younger child, also is gifted at the sewing and embroidering craft, but the mother's heart belongs predominantly to her son.
The book moves between the plantation and Georgetown and Washington. (During the time of the story, Georgetown was a separate municipality from Washington, D.C.) When Gabriel is a child, Ridley hires him out to a tailor in Georgetown, Abraham Pearl, who is reluctant to use slave labor but needs the help. Over the course of years, Gabriel learns the business. He determines to free himself, his mother, and his sister from bondage. With Annie's help, Gabriel is able to save money to purchase his family's freedom from the conniving and dishonest Ridley. The family takes the surname of "Coats" due to their skills as tailors. With the impending war and the influx of people into Washington, the hardworking Coats family achieves a degree of economic success in their business as tailors, embroiderers, and laundresses. The purchase of family freedom occurs relatively early in the novel, but it is only the beginning of the family's troubles.
Besides telling the story of a difficult freedom, Clarke's novel also explores the family and sexual dynamics of the Coats'. The book suggests that Annie is inordinately attached to Gabriel at the expense of both her son's own independence and of Ellen and other women who become part of the family. Annie also sacrifices some of her own sexuality through her overprotectiveness towards her son. Other family tensions arise when Ellen adopts a baby girl under straightened circumstances and both Annie and Gabriel have difficulty accepting the child. Some of the best scenes in the novel are those showing the inherent difficulties of blended families. When Gabriel marries a former abused ex-slave named Mary, Annie leads his way and perhaps plays too large a role in the couple's life. Gabriel and Mary have four daughters in a short time and love them dearly. But both Annie and Mary worry that Gabriel is displeased by the lack of a son. The overriding sexual tension of the novel results from the pervasive sexual abuse of African American women, as shown in Annie, Ellen, and Mary, by slaveholders and by the institution of slavery.
The book offers a good portrayal of life in Georgetown in the years leading up to the Civil War. At the time, Georgetown, and Washington City, had a mixed and highly volatile population of whites, free blacks, and slaves. Poor areas stood side by side with wealth. There was a great deal of southern sympathy in the city, and free blacks were always at substantial risk to their persons and liberties. The military assumed an increasingly large place and the city, and the brothels were ubiquitous. Clarke captures a sense of African American life in the Civil War District of Columbia that may be unfamiliar to many readers. As the story moves forward, Gabriel and another successful African American businessman whom he has befriended enlist in the Union Army. Clarke again offers a description of the hardships that African American soldiers endured during the War that sometimes does not find its way to the history books.
The style of the book varies. It tends to move slowly and the writing can be awkward or stilted. There are long passages of unconvincing introspection by some of the characters, some wandering of theme, and too much dwelling on scatological details. But portions of the book move well, quickly, and poignantly. With its stylistic deficiencies, "Stand the Storm" still offers a thoughtful portrayal of the strugle from slavery to freedom in the Washington, D.C. area during the Civil War era.
Robin Friedman
Bolingbrookbookie
Jul 23, 2009
Buying Freedom?
I am on a personal quest to better understand the history of Black Americans .I picked this book because the author promised a story about a family of slaves that bought their freedom and prospered. She delivered !!! Great writing Ms. Clarke!!! Compelling drama played out by courageous, kind, principled characters.After finishing this book, I missed the people.
The book club I belong to is giving it high praise.I am looking forward to the discussions that are forthcoming. I am sure most of us learned a great deal about that time and the concept and reality of 'buying your freedom".
This book has something to offer anyone. You don't need to be a historical fiction lover to enjoy this book. The story is simply and amazingly good.
