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Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family by Rachel Jamison Webster
skeltzer's review
informative
fast-paced
1.0
What did I just read? I went into this expecting a story about Benjamin Banneker, but it felt like the bulk of this story was about white women. In one exchange, the author mentions that she'll write a paragraph, or maybe a page, about white women. I laughed at that part because half the book had been about white women, and she wrote about white women as if she were not one herself, in a group apart.
It should have been called "Benjamin Banneker and Me." I can understand why one of the family members was upset about the author and this book.
Along with this centering of white women, I didn't realize that much of the book would be a creative writing exercise about how the ancestors may have felt or what they may have experienced. It felt like a gross fantasy. I found myself checking the notes section for each chapter to figure out what exactly was true and what wasn't.
I'm not entirely convinced that the story told in this book was fully the author's story to tell. What would have been a really interesting story to tell more of was what happened with the ancestor that passed into whiteness. That was more the author's story to tell and to reckon with, in my opinion.
It should have been called "Benjamin Banneker and Me." I can understand why one of the family members was upset about the author and this book.
Along with this centering of white women, I didn't realize that much of the book would be a creative writing exercise about how the ancestors may have felt or what they may have experienced. It felt like a gross fantasy. I found myself checking the notes section for each chapter to figure out what exactly was true and what wasn't.
I'm not entirely convinced that the story told in this book was fully the author's story to tell. What would have been a really interesting story to tell more of was what happened with the ancestor that passed into whiteness. That was more the author's story to tell and to reckon with, in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Racism
evamadera1's review
1.0
Several parts of this book made me cringe, to put it lightly. I don't even know where to begin with the critiques. First, Webster carelessly combines history, historical fiction, and memoir without taking much care to distinguish between the parts. I could continue the list and could almost forgive that if Webster, a white woman, had taken her head out of her own ass long enough to realize that this story is not about her and that by spending so much time naval gazing she inflicts significant harm on the people she tries to call family. By the end, I was hate reading the book, disgusted at how she made the story all about her.
ryner's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Born into a family of freemen (and women!) in 1731, at a time when the majority of people of African descent in America were enslaved, Benjamin Banneker became a highly respected autodidact in a number of fields, including astronomy, mathematics, mechanics and nature. He was also the creator of a popular series of almanacs in the late 1700s and one of the original surveyors of Washington, D.C. When Rachel Jamison Webster learned that one of her ancestors was Banneker's sibling Jemima, she became immersed in her family history, connecting with distant cousins on long-forgotten branches of her family tree — but there was one detail that complicated Webster's connection to the past: her side of the family was white. At one significant point in time, one of her ancestors had made a choice to "pass," which undoubtedly opened additional doors of opportunity, but which also would have fatefully cut them off from their own families and subsequently obscured their history for their descendants.
As a genealogy and history buff, I am entranced by stories of family research, discovery and secrets. From that angle, Webster's story was fascinating. I empathized strongly with Webster's desire to reconnect to a part of her heritage previously unknown to her, but I also could feel the awkwardness in being the white person whose ancestors essentially abandoned and denied their own family members. It isn't at all surprising that some of her newfound kin would be suspicious of her motives, despite her having no less of a genetic claim to Banneker than they. From this reader's perspective, she seems to have treated the Banneker saga with appropriate sensitivity and respect, but I can only hope the rest of the family feels the same.
Having said the above, I really struggle with nonfiction books that blur the lines between known facts and the author's fanciful imaginings. Webster refers to her writing as "creative nonfiction," but even the best examples of this genre (of which I am fond) wisely steer clear of completely fabricated dialogue and invented scenes, or purporting to know the characters' innermost thoughts and feelings. The weakest parts of this work are when Webster begins a passage with "I imagine that [character] would have..." but then a few sentences later forgets she is merely surmising, and dives right into making confident assertions that are in fact entirely speculative. The reader can only guess whether any given passage is based on actual primary sources. This grated on me more and more as the story went on and, as interesting as I thought the book was, I cannot forgive Webster just making things up to fill pages — that's called fiction.
I received this ARC via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
As a genealogy and history buff, I am entranced by stories of family research, discovery and secrets. From that angle, Webster's story was fascinating. I empathized strongly with Webster's desire to reconnect to a part of her heritage previously unknown to her, but I also could feel the awkwardness in being the white person whose ancestors essentially abandoned and denied their own family members. It isn't at all surprising that some of her newfound kin would be suspicious of her motives, despite her having no less of a genetic claim to Banneker than they. From this reader's perspective, she seems to have treated the Banneker saga with appropriate sensitivity and respect, but I can only hope the rest of the family feels the same.
Having said the above, I really struggle with nonfiction books that blur the lines between known facts and the author's fanciful imaginings. Webster refers to her writing as "creative nonfiction," but even the best examples of this genre (of which I am fond) wisely steer clear of completely fabricated dialogue and invented scenes, or purporting to know the characters' innermost thoughts and feelings. The weakest parts of this work are when Webster begins a passage with "I imagine that [character] would have..." but then a few sentences later forgets she is merely surmising, and dives right into making confident assertions that are in fact entirely speculative. The reader can only guess whether any given passage is based on actual primary sources. This grated on me more and more as the story went on and, as interesting as I thought the book was, I cannot forgive Webster just making things up to fill pages — that's called fiction.
I received this ARC via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
kalypsowolf's review
challenging
slow-paced
3.5
3.5
I think overall this book is very interesting and talks about a lot of important things.
I think documenting the journey of delving into your ancestry is awesome and I found it pretty fun to read about, but it's clear that she didn't record the conversations she had and it shows. I couldn't tell when it was supposed to be her talking or someone else because it all used the same voice in the text and that affected my reading experience way more than I thought it would.
I did appreciate the creative detail given to the historical parts. It served to make these people more than just names and facts on a page, which I think is so important. Especially with black people and women who rarely ever have detailed information about them in historical documents. I think there are parts where the descriptions of what it might have been like back then do go on a little too long, though, and I ended up skimming through quite a few sections.
I think overall this book is very interesting and talks about a lot of important things.
I think documenting the journey of delving into your ancestry is awesome and I found it pretty fun to read about, but it's clear that she didn't record the conversations she had and it shows. I couldn't tell when it was supposed to be her talking or someone else because it all used the same voice in the text and that affected my reading experience way more than I thought it would.
I did appreciate the creative detail given to the historical parts. It served to make these people more than just names and facts on a page, which I think is so important. Especially with black people and women who rarely ever have detailed information about them in historical documents. I think there are parts where the descriptions of what it might have been like back then do go on a little too long, though, and I ended up skimming through quite a few sections.
nikkitadcomeau's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
I know the author is telling her story the way she experienced it, but the last couple chapters gave me an ick. I would have preferred her to spend a bit more time on the family members who made the decision to pass, since that was a huge part of HER story.
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