Book Review: Under the Tulip Tree / Michelle Shocklee

This is a book that the Tusitala Teachers, our teacher book club, read. I think that I have mentioned before that I often go down rabbit holes when I read a story. I listen to the music and taste the food. This story took me down rabbit holes of learning. I spent some time reading slave narratives and then investigated the Contraband camps (which I had never heard of) - more about that shortly.

In this novel, Lorena, who turned 16 on the day that the stock market crashed, ended up with a job through the Federal Writers Project (FWP) interviewing slaves. One slave in particular caught her heart and she made many trips back to Frankie's house listening and recording her past.

I knew about Roosevelt's WPA (Works Progress Administration) through which unemployed people were employed to build parks, schools, roads... I had heard of the Federal Writers Project and the recording of slave narratives, but I had never really looked at them. This story acted as a catalyst to read some of those stories held at the Library of Congress. Check out the Slave Narratives here.

I also love when I learn about a part of history that is totally new to me. I had never heard about the Contraband Camps that were established during the civil war to house slaves who were escaping from servitude to confederate soldier or were swept up by Yankee Soldiers. The slaves were considered property, thus the name Contraband camps. This link from the Tennessee Encyclopedia shares some information about the camps where a part of Frankie's story is set. 

In borrowed this book from the Nashua Public Library through Hoopla.