“Tough slog to get through, but it still managed to hold my interest. It's the story of a young woman (the eponymous Iola) who is raised as a proper young Southern girl, the daughter of a plantation owner... but discovers at the time of her father's death that her mother is actually a former slave who has been passing as white with the help of the father. Iola and her brother are outed as being black, and are shocked and dismayed at the unexpected change in their circumstances. Eventually they find their extended black family and reunite with them.
The thing that surprised me the most is that so many slaves or former slaves looked white enough to pass... that's not something that is discussed in much detail in modern classrooms when discussing Black history. ”
emilysk wrote this review Thursday, January 12, 2012.
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