Yvonne Hilton is a history buff and avid consumer of current events that will become tomorrow’s history. The 1991 excavations of graves at the site of what would finally be recognized as the African Burial Ground along with her South Carolina roots sowed the seeds for this novel. As the characters and their stories began to unfold in her mind, she felt an urgency to recreate the day-to-day lives of enslaved people in the 1700s. Since her childhood summers had been spent with people who still spoke Gullah, it was as if her ancestors were demanding that she include their voices as well. She began her research into urban and rural slavery in New York with information from Dr. Sherrill Wilson, an urban anthropologist. The material on Long Island Native Americans in the 17th and 18th centuries came from the Museum of the American Indian in Manhattan, as well as the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Connecticut, which yielded copies of the now-extinct Unkechaug vocabulary. Yvonne Hilton is the author of two novels. She is a retired educator and lives in Brooklyn.
Century
by Yvonne Hilton
Century
by Yvonne Hilton
Published Sep 29, 2020
328 Pages
Genre: FICTION / African American & Black / Historical
Book Details
Century is a love story and a tale of resistance. The story is a quest for liberty among Blacks, Native Americans and Whites. Enslaved Blacks, both newly captured and in bondage for generations, defy their masters by loving whomever they please. Whites and Blacks challenge societal mores by falling in love even though it is forbidden. The narrative centers around a woman, a runaway slave trained in the use of herbal medicine and African religion who joins a group of Native Americans as they struggle against being pushed off their land. Resistance is the response of the Native Americans to those who mean to annihilate them. The novel takes place during the 1700s in West Africa, across eastern North America and in the British West Indies.
Also by Yvonne Hilton
