Mama Rose
Bernadene Coleman
Milligan Books
First Printing September, 1998
300 Pages
1-8881524-35-3
$12.95

Book Review: By Maxine E. Thompson

Not long ago, echoes of the novel, Mama Rose, were heard around the country when the biracial descendants of Thomas Jefferson tried to claim their rightful birth heritage. Bernadene Coleman’s debut novel, Mama Rose, tells the opposite side of the coin. What happens when a white man lives side by side with his beloved Black wife, and even deeds his land to their nine children to make sure that they inherit it? (This was during a time that the biracial children were not recognized as his children.)

On the one hand, this novel debunks the myth of America’s “Dirty Little Secret”--interracial relationships. Instead, it shows a beautiful side of an enduring “mixed marriage.” But on the other hand, Mama Rose challenges one of the longstanding beliefs about America--the one about America being a melting pot of all races. This being the case, then why has there always been such controversy surrounding interracial relationships? Consider the following. Until recently, many states had laws on the books against miscegenation or interracial marriages. Looking back to the devastation at Rosewood, The Tulsa Riots, (which took place on what was formerly known as the Black Wall Street,) and more recently, the social upheaval caused by the OJ trial, this is an entrenched bone of contention in America's psyche. What was at the crux of the matter? The black man vis-a-vis the white woman.

But how about the converse of this? A white man vis-a-vis a black woman. This black woman was not just the white man’s mistress either. Mama Rose was Jesse Ford’s lifetime partner, who he lived with openly right after the Civil War, of all times! The novel, Mama Rose, is an historical, literary love story which is based on the interracial marriage of the author’s great-grandparents.

Mama Rose illustrates why love stories never die or go out of vogue. More than just a tale of a forbidden love against the odds, it is a story of a love which transcended racial barriers, time and place in history. Although this is a work of fiction, similar to the book and movie, Beloved, the account has its basis in fact. As such, Mama Rose is one of those unearthed, hidden treasures.

The story opens following the end of the Civil War. Rose Turner, a run away, orphaned Negro girl, was taken in by an unusual family. Jesse Ford, a white, Ex-Union soldier went South after the war to take advantage of the dirt-cheap prices of farms during the agricultural depression caused by the aftermath of the war. Disliked intensely by whites, he had to turn to Negro families for assistance. It was through this alliance that he became friendly with the family of the beautiful, young black girl, Rose. Their friendship culminated into love and marriage. Their union was an insult for both the Negro and white communities. Plans were carefully made and executed to break the bonds of such an unholy marriage.

Mama Rose is the story of this young couple's courage in the face of storms, floods, crop failure, the death of a son, and even government deceit. This uncommon and tender love story details how love, endurance, strength and hard work triumph over hate. This story is also a testament to the power of love to overcome obstacles set before couples who are bound in Christ.

On a closer examination, this story epitomizes the restoration movement America is witnessing in Black Literature. This is a movement similar to that of the Harlem Negro Renaissance Movement in literature during the 1920's. It is a well-known fact that African Americans come from a background with a rich oral tradition. But the down side of this has been that at one time, family history had to rely solely on the spoken word to be handed down to the next generation. Because reading and writing were forbidden for slaves, these stories did not get written down. And, as a result, without the words being written down, the stories generally died out with the oldest living relative. This situation was further exacerbated by the fact that many of the Elders did not want to talk about the past. It was just too "unspeakable," as they called it. "The unspeakable" generally was wrought with pain, but sad to say, it was like "throwing the baby out with the bath." Because of this silence, many of the quotidian details of the unheralded lives of African Americans went unrecorded.

However, with the proliferation of new Black writers, many stories handed down through the family, such as Bernadene High Coleman's wonderful Mama Rose, are now being memorialized through the written word. Fortunately, among the new wave of Black Literature, we are also hearing from the Elders -- the griots--who previously, were taking their ancestors' stories to their graves.