The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray *****

The First Ladies is a novel about the interracial friendship between Eleanor Delano Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune during the years of FDR’s presidency and Jim Crow. Together, they fought for civil rights. Some fights were successful (the Tuskegee Airmen), and others not (any anti-lynching bill). This book is not all politics. Their relationship and mutual support are also explored.

Much is said about how people are addressed. White people addressed negroes by their first name regardless of their relationship. This was offensive, and Mrs. Bethune spoke up about this, often supported by Mrs. Roosevelt.

Eleanor Roosevelt might not need an introduction, but Mrs. Bethune does. “She was also a prolific writer who submitted articles and pieces to many newspapers and periodicals, and had regular columns. … The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and the National Council of Negro Women benefited from Mary’s leadership ... The list of businesses that Mary originated and ran was numerous—McLeod Hospital, an insurance company, Bethune Beach, a funeral home … During World War II, Mary was also a consultant to the U.S. Secretary of War, helping to identify and select Negro female candidates to become officers.” In addition, she held several leadership positions within FDR’s administration. Bethune-Cookman University is still in Daytona Beach, Florida.

With its emphasis on these women’s personal lives, the book deals with FDR’s affair with Lucy Mercer and Eleanor Roosevelt’s affair with Lorena Hickok. It also deals with Mrs. Bethune’s experiences with Jim Crow laws. My favorite parts of the book were when Eleanor used her power as First Lady to combat Jim Crow laws.

J Edgar Hoover, Bull Connor, and Lyndon Baines Johnson, among others, had cameo roles.

Footnote: The two authors are an interracial pair and consider many of the discussions of racism between Eleanor and Mary to be autobiographical.

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James by Percival Everett *****

Percival Everett’s James started with Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. He made runaway slave Jim the main character. Like all slaves, James is bilingual. He can speak the dialect (“slave talk”) Twain wrote for Jim (“a language no white person could master”), and the language of the whites. Black people use “slave talk” whenever there are white folk present. Jim is the smartest person in the book, but that doesn’t shield him from the brutality of slavery. James exposes how slavery fostered violence and ignorance.

Here is a language lesson…

You’re walking down the street and you see that Mrs. Holiday’s kitchen is on fire. She’s standing in her yard, her back to her house, unaware. How do you tell her?” “Fire, fire,” January said. “Direct. And that’s almost correct,” I said. The youngest of them, lean and tall five-year-old Rachel, said, “Lawdy, missum! Looky dere.” “Perfect,” I said. “Why is that correct?” Lizzie raised her hand. “Because we must let the whites be the ones who name the trouble.” “And why is that?” I asked. February said, “Because they need to know everything before us. Because they need to name everything.” “Good, good. You all are really sharp today.”

James was self-educated. He read Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke.

The power of reading…

At that moment the power of reading made itself clear and real to me. If I could see the words, then no one could control them or what I got from them. They couldn’t even know if I was merely seeing them or reading them, sounding them out or comprehending them. It was a completely private affair and completely free and, therefore, completely subversive.

Quotes…

“Folks be funny lak dat. Dey takes the lies dey want and throws away the truths dat scares ’em.”

“A distance you know is shorter den one you don’t.”

“If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning.”

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