Honoree Fanonne Jeffers: “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” (Part 1)

Master poet Honoree Fanonne Jeffers discusses her fiction debut, “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois.” Ailey Pearl Garfield, its protagonist, explores who she is, where she comes from, and why something within her has made her a historian. Set in Chicasetta, Georgia, this novel explores how its place and people came to evolve. A political and historical novel with a multiracial family in the south, joy in the midst of inherited sorrow, reverie in music, and so much more there’s a second episode.

This episode originally aired on September 2, 2021.

Excerpt from The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers.

It’stime for the grocery store, ’cause Mama ain’t gone eatfolks

white lady sees us at the Pig Pen. She don’t know that Lydia is with us.Doesn’t.

Lydiadon’tlooklikenoneofus.Doesn’t.Daddy’sgotbrowneyes, buthelookslikeawhiteman.Mama’sdarklikechocolateandlittle and pretty. She makes her hair straight with a hot comb and blue grease.I’mdark,too,butnotlikeMama.Igotredinmyskinunder- neath the brown like my granny. Coco’s eyes and skin match, like caramel candy. Her nose is wide like Mama’s, and she’s real short, too. Her hair’s like Mama’s, and it grows real long. Lydia’s hair is long,too,butwon’tholdacurl.Butinthebackofherhead,she’sgot a kitchen. It grows in curls like mine. That’s how you can tell that she’s a Black girl. She’s got a gap in her teeth like Mama’s too. Her skinislightbutnotlikeDaddy’s.Shelookslikeshewentoutinthe sunandstayedalongtimeandgotatan.ButMamasaysBlackfolks don’t get tans. We already got some color. And Mama don’t care if folksareignorantaboutherchildren.Doesn’t.Shecarriedallofusin herbellyandwebelongtoherandweshouldloveherverymuch.

Excerpted from “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. Copyright © 2021 by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.