The Invention of Wings: A Novel (54 page)

BOOK: The Invention of Wings: A Novel

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The following institutions, which, along with Historic Charleston Foundation and Drayton Hall, served as resources: the Charleston Museum, the Charleston Library Society, the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library and the Avery Research Center, the Charleston County Public Library, the South Caroliniana Library, the Aiken-Rhett House Museum, the Nathaniel Russell House Museum, the Charles Pinckney House, the Old Slave Mart, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Lowcountry Africana, Middleton Place, and Boone Hall Plantation.

Pierce, Herns, Sloan & Wilson, LLC of Charleston, which allowed me to explore to my heart’s content the historic house that once belonged to the Grimké family (named the Blake House for its original owner).

Jacqueline Coleburn, rare book cataloger at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., for her enormous assistance in providing me with a treasure trove of letters, newspapers, Anti-Slavery Convention proceedings, and other documents related to Sarah and Angelina Grimké and early-nineteenth-century history.

Doris Bowman, associate curator and specialist, Textile Collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., for welcoming me into the Smithsonian archives to view Harriet Powers’
Bible Quilt
and for supplying me with a wealth of information about it.

The New-York Historical Society for making available documents related to the Grimké sisters and Denmark Vesey, including official reports of Vesey’s insurrection and trial.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, which awed and educated me with its exhibits and interactive experiences on slavery and abolition.

Marilee Birchfield, librarian at the University of South Carolina, for aid with research questions.

Robert Kidd and Kellie Bayuzick Kidd for being willing and able research assistants.

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 Grimkés, 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 scholarship and writings about the Grimké sisters greatly influenced me, particularly her biography
The Grimké 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 Grimké Family’s Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders;
H. Catherine Birney in
The Grimké 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 illustrated 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 gratitude for each of them.

BEHIND THE SCENES
AT TINDER PRESS …