Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones’s right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family’s past for answers.
...a pointed rebuttal to those who still insist that enslaved peoples’ histories are unknowable, or that Black people cannot be trusted as narrators of their own past ... Although she never says so explicitly, Jones’s compelling descriptions of reading the archives, accompanied by images from the archives themselves, make clear that she understands the central role Black women historians have played in disrupting an academy that, like much of the world, constantly demands that we prove ourselves ... Jones has done more than honor her family’s history; she reinscribes their story on the tablet of our collective imagination.
Jones’ writing, both in skill and subject matter, is reminiscent of Tiya Miles’ biography of Harriet Tubman, Night Flyer, and her National Book Award-winning All That She Carried. The Trouble of Color is a genealogy with staying power that will change the way readers understand race.
Eloquent, candid, and meticulously researched, this book will appeal to both lovers of family memoir and scholars of Black history. A deftly woven multigenerational tapestry that celebrates the complexity of African American history and identity.
