IRB Media Summary of Bettye Kearse's The Other Madisons

Annotation

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The story of my family's griot, Jim, says that Madison had a relationship with one of his slaves, Coreen, that resulted in the birth of a son, Jim, who was sold and sent away when he was a teenager.#2 I was a debutante in the cotillion, a ball sponsored by the Bay Area chapter of the Links, which was a national organization of wives of prominent black men. Dating back to the seventeenth century, the debutante ball was originally a European tradition to declare young women with the right credentials eligible for marriage.#3 I was educated in the black middle class, and as a result, I felt pressured to achieve. I wanted to explore life unencumbered by an overprotective family and a watchful black middle-class community. I knew that I could find anything in New York City.#4 I had a difficult time adjusting to the fact that I was a descendant of African slaves, as opposed to a president. I felt like the reverence for James Madison the directive demanded did not reflect the abuses of slavery.