Part 32 (2/2)

Scott Taylor for providing patient and expert technical help, especially the week my computer crashed.

There were many primary sources, books, essays, and articles about the Grimkes, Denmark Vesey, slavery, abolition, quilts and African textiles, and early-nineteenth-century history that became the bedrock of my research, but I would like to especially mention my indebtedness to Dr. Gerda Lerner, whose scholars.h.i.+p and writings about the Grimke sisters greatly influenced me, particularly her biography The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition. I'm also indebted to the research and writing of Mark Perry in his book Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimke Family's Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders; H. Catherine Birney in The Grimke Sisters; David Robertson in Denmark Vesey: The Buried Story of America's Largest Slave Rebellion and the Man Who Led It; and Maurie D. McInnis in The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston. I want to acknowledge an American black folktale, from which I drew inspiration, about people in Africa being able to fly and then losing their wings when captured into slavery. The story is beautifully told by Virginia Hamilton and magnificently ill.u.s.trated by Leo and Diane Dillon in the ALA Notable Children's Book The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales.

I'm immensely grateful to the wonderful group of friends who listened to me recount the pull, challenges, and joys of writing this novel, and who never ceased to encourage me: Terry Helwig, Trisha Sinnott, Curly Clark, Carolyn Rivers, Susan Hull Walker, and Molly Lehman. I'm grateful, too, for Jim and Mandy Helwig, who along with Terry have long been part of my extended family.

I was sustained every single day by the love and support of family: my parents Leah and Ridley Monk; my son Bob Kidd and his wife, Kellie; my daughter Ann Kidd Taylor and her husband, Scott; my grandchildren Roxie, Ben, and Max; and my husband, Sandy, who has journeyed with me since college and whose bravery during the past year both inspired and deepened me. No words can ever express my grat.i.tude for each of them.

Also by Sue Monk Kidd.

NOVELS..

The Mermaid Chair.

The Secret Life of Bees.

NONFICTION..

Traveling with Pomegranates (with Ann Kidd Taylor).

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter.

Firstlight.

When the Heart Waits.

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