Custom essays on “The Hairstons: An American Family in black and White”

This book is the saga about the large family of Hairstons, who numbered over a thousand people. This clan is closely linked with the history of America and particularly with slavery, as it was a family of planters and slaves throughout the country, from Virginia and North Carolina to Mississippi. This story is really a presentation of the American nation of past times, as it tells about American people during slavery period: about interracial relationships between black and white families, about fate of the families during the war, and about the struggle for equality and freedom of people.
This book is interesting because it has both historical facts from archival research from books and libraries, and also real facts from people’s words and stories. It is true that Wiencek narrative is based on conversations with family members of the Hairstons clan, who was interviewing the family members from the whole country, making the family tree of Hairstons and trying to gather together a family history. That brought to the book true and unique beliefs and emotions, anecdotes and stories from different members, both from the plantation owners and their slaves.
Some critics wrote that Wiencek “touched every aspect of American endeavor from Hollywood to Wall Street and from the coal fields of West Virginia to Europe during WWII”. ()
The main idea of the book is the importance of family and family ties for people. Hairstons valued family bonds very much, and it was always important for them to know “who you are and know who your family is”. (Wiencek 2000)

The family story and history
“The Hairstons: An American Family in black and White” story tells readers about a large and diversity family of plantators, who had dozens of plantations and thousands of slaves, and were like the “owners” of the slavery part of America – the South. At those historical times all people were affected by slavery’s legacy, and the author shows how slavery policies put burdens on the family of Hairstons.
It is important that the author showed the Hairstons’ story from different historical perspectives, making this people part of the country’s history. He mentioned process of slave’s emancipation, reconstruction, segregation, and lynching. A very good example that Wiencek showed was the story of one black slave who was dying from hunger, and used rail fences to cook some food for his starving comrades. We can see the sad evidence of this situation, which shows how sad and hard was the slaves life – that is, black family members. On the other hand, the author shows the view of white on this situation, who treated it as an act of slave indolence, and a way to hinder the next day’s work. Wiencek tried to show the history of injustice and unfairness of the laws that was transformed into relations between people of different races, who essentially were brothers and citizens of one country.
Henry Wiencek depicts the lives of black and white members of the Hairston family, so he showed the unity of races despite the historical divide between them, as this family accepted every member as one family.
Henry Wiencek mentioned an important historical date of the day in 1866 when the government finally allowed former slaves to register their marriages, giving names to their families and their children. That was important event as many slaves had an opportunity to chose the name Hairston and so to become a member of a great clan. The author comments: “The real significance of this document is that this is a symbol of their victory over slavery. The white people very often believed that slaves could not hold marriages together, and this document proves them wrong.” (Wiencek 2000)

It is interesting how did the Hairston families managed to save the family ties, when government and society laws were designed to tear people apart, to separate the poor from the rich, plantators from slaves, and white from black people? The answer lies in a very interesting document- called “the Hairston family slave ledgers”, that Wiencek calls “the bank books of human souls”. So Hairstons never valued money above all, so they never sold land and never sold off their slaves, that helped to remain the slave families ties. This also helped the family no survive and members not to be lost.
Wiencek while showing the Hairstons family history also tells the stories of individuals, who were parts of a family shared history.
One of the most interesting is the story aabout Robert and his heirs, who fell in love with one of his slaves. Robert had a daughter Chrillis after the death he left his plantations to her, but the other from the Hairstons family tried to fight his will. After some time they transferred Chrillis to another plantation, telling that she had died.
The stories are interesting and detective, and show the complex family relationships of different people, their relationships, the search for relatives in the wish to find family ties.
The black and white Hairstons were sepatated by the America’s history and particularly by slavery, but they managed to remain the family and they shared common name, country, and history.
Conclusion
The main idea of the book is the importance of family and family ties for people. Hairstons valued family bonds very much, and it was always important for them to know “who you are and know who your family is”. (Wiencek 2000)
Even nowadays the descendants of those slaves still have powerful connection to each other and strong famoly ties, even being scattered across the whole country. The book gives the reader the opportunity to learn and to understand the complex lines of family ties, their lives, interesting situations, ways of life.
Hairstons are not only a family, but also a corporation called the Hairston Clan, Inc. that has many members of different professions and social statuses, both rich and poor, old and young, ugly and beautiful – though all of them are members of a large family.

References:
Henry Wiencek (2000). The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White. St. Martin’s Griffin; 1st edition