The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

August 2022 - The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

Over the last few years, I have taken anti-racism and racial equity courses and toured civil rights museums across the South. It was eye-opening to dive into the history of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow, and it acquainted me with a perspective that wasn't taught in most high school civics classes. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers is a classic American family saga from the perspective of the enslaved and disenfranchised.

The novel follows the lineage of Ailey Pearl Garfield, beginning with the natives who lived on the land that became known as Georgia and following the European settlers and the enslaved Africans who came to call it home.

Beautifully written, the book delves into the complicated intertwining of natives, enslaved peoples, and Europeans. The novel details the history of stolen land and stolen lives, the love, the cruelty, and the arrogance of colonization with authenticity.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is a history book made whole, flesh on the bones of facts, context for content. We see and hear the toll of slavery not just during the time of the enslaved but across the span of history.

The practice of murdering African Americans for looking at a white woman the wrong way came into being when slavery ended. Only after emancipation, when blacks no longer had a market value, did whites murder black men for minor offenses. The context is enlightening. While we may be aware that interracial marriage was once illegal. But Jeffers points out that there were no legal repercussions for a white man if he raped a black woman, paid her for sex, kept her in a house, or had children with her. But if he loved her and wanted to marry her, that was against the law. The framework completes the story and lets us grasp the irony and horror of the times filling in the gaps and omissions of our American history classes.

Though the novel centers on a family of African American heritage, the novel might be considered a treatise on the many ways that power corrupts. The power dynamic of white Europeans exploiting natives and Africans is expected, but we also witness the power imbalance with regard to women and children. The Garfield family history contains murder, lynching, child sexual abuse, rape, and disfigurement.

The novel makes it clear that owning another human being is a power that corrupts the owners. The nuance in The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois is that the corruption is not only revealed in cruelty and fearlessness but also in the way the power imbalance corrupts love. The mixed-race reality of the families challenges the white narrative of separation. The complications of all human interactions are revealed as we follow the Garfields, the Hargraces, and the Franklins through the years.

This book is over 800 pages, and its scope matches the span. The novel addresses racism, civil rights, feminism, drug abuse, mental health, education, sex, sexual assault, love, and family.

And you may not be surprised to discover that there is also a healthy supply of words from W.E.B. Du Bois and a debate as to whether or not his merits supersede those of Booker T. Washington. Set aside some time for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois. It's not a quick read, but worth the time.