The Homewood Trilogy (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Edgar Wideman
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: Mid-nineteenth century to the 1980’s
- Setting: Homewood area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Principal Characters: John French, Freeda Hollinger French, Lizabeth French Lawson, John (Doot) Lawson, Tommy Lawson, Mother Bess Simpkins, Carl French, Brother Tate, Lucy Tate
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: African Americans
- Locales: Pittsburgh, PA
The Story:
Damballah. A young slave saw his fellow slave Orion, who refused to disavow his god Damballah or to obey his white master, dragged into the barn to be killed. Later, the boy listened as the ghost of Orion retold his stories, then threw Orion’s head into the river.
Many years later, John French and his wife, Freeda Hollinger French, were living in Homewood. When his dog found a dead black baby in the garbage, Lemuel Strayhorn got John to help him bury it. On one occasion, Freeda stuck her hand through a window to keep her husband out of trouble. On...
[The entire page is 2255 words long]
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