Alex Haley's Queen: The Story of an American Family

Opening in Ireland, this book follows the story of Alex Haley's Irish great-great grandfather, James Jackson, sent to the United States, where he established the Forks of Cypress plantation in Alabama and raised his family. His son formed a romantic attachment to the beautiful strong-willed slave, Easter, and together they had a daughter, Queen, Alex Haley's grandmother. After the Civil War, Queen left the plantation a free woman, tried to find her identity in a world in which she looked white but was regarded as black. She eventually married Alec Haley, a ferryboat operator, and together they strove to provide everything possible for their growing family. The culmination of Queen's dreams was when her last-born son, Simon, graduated from college, just one generation up from slavery.