Writing and Cultural Appropriation

First things first; I wrote a book based on the life of Sojourner Truth. I’m a white writer. Sojourner was black.

It was my first novel and it was published fifteen years ago, back when the discussion of cultural appropriation was simmering, not on a full tilt boil like it is today. I spent five years researching and writing the book.

I also listened to a powerful voice in my head for five years that said, “Who do you think you are to write this book? You’re a white woman writing a black woman’s story.” Every single day, for five years.

Equally loud was another voice in my head. This one was Sojourner’s and she basically said, “You think writing a book is hard? You should have tried living my life. Now that was hard.”

She was unsympathetic to my conflicted thoughts.

I live in the same town in Massachusetts where Sojourner Truth lived for part of her life, after she left her life of enslavement in New York State, followed by a turbulent life in New York City. I can walk by her former house because it is just a few blocks from my house.

What compelled me to write a work of historical fiction about Sojourner Truth? Because I was compelled. First, as a psychologist I wanted to know why her spirit wasn’t shattered by her years of slavery. In her later years, she emerged as a fierce abolitionist and one of the most influential speakers of the 19th Century.

But how did she survive the brutalities of slavery? Because legions of enslaved people did not survive physically, emotionally, or spiritually. My novel takes place primarily before she is a national figure, when she is forming her understanding of humanity. When she is taken from her parents and sold again, and again, as property.

Second, she was one of the heroes of our American history and I wanted to tell her story in a way that could be absorbed by readers who were more inclined to read historical fiction, rather than a biography (because good biographies of her were out there). I wanted people to know her and experience her, even in this fictional way. I didn’t want her to disappear into the unlit corners of history. I thought our country needed her. I still do.

I’m not sure I ever unpacked my first question about her, about why or how she survived a brutal system in order to live long enough to help dismantle it. But fifteen years later, here is what I think. Every seismic shift in humanity toward freedom is moved forward by a few people who light the way in a brighter, louder, more courageous way. I believe Sojourner Truth was one of those people. I remain amazed by her.

Note: The novel was first published with the title, Truth, by Simon & Schuster. It was later republished by the author with the title The Comet’s Tale; A novel about Sojourner Truth.
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Jacqueline Sheehan, is a New York Times Bestselling author and a psychologist.
Her novels include, The Comet’s Tale a novel about Sojourner Truth, Lost & Found, Now & Then, Picture This, The Center of the World, and The Tiger in the House. She writes NPR commentaries, travel articles, and essays including the New York Times column, Modern Love.

She edited the anthology, Women Writing in Prison.

Jacqueline has been a fellow at Hawthornden Castle, Scotland, Jentel Arts Colony, Wyoming, and Turkey Land Cove, Martha’s Vineyard. She teaches workshops at Writers in Progress in Florence, MA https://doriostermiller.com/writers-in-progress/ and will co-lead a writing retreat in Prague in July 2019. www.jacquelinesheehan.com

About A COMET’S TALE

Born a slave, survived a free bondswoman, reborn an outspoken abolitionist, Sojourner Truth died a heroine of graceful proportions. But the story of her inner struggles is as powerful and provocative as her accomplishments and could be captured only in fiction. This emotionally searing novel beautifully infuses the historical atrocities of the 1800s with psychological speculation of who Sojourner Truth really was, beyond her social and political persona. Reminiscent of White Oleander, Bastard Out of Carolina, and Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jacqueline Sheehan’s book tells the story of Sojourner Truth as it has never been told before.

“I rode to earth on the backside of a comet.” So begins the story, based largely on the early life of Sojourner Truth. Born at the turn of the nineteenth century to slaves of a New York State Dutch farmer, given the name Isabella, the young child is sold off at the age of nine to a succession of owners—some cruel, some indifferent, all assuming that she, as a colored girl, is nothing more than property. But Isabella has dreams and fears and deeply felt faith that somehow see her through the indignities and beatings she must tolerate. Ultimately she triumphs against the most enormous of odds to speak out against slavery and for women’s rights as long as she draws breath.

A Comet’s Tale is a testament on one woman’s strength and a powerful lesson in courage.

PRAISE FOR A COMET’S TALE:

“…Sheehan’s writing is lively and vivid and her feel for historical detail is fine…”
-The New York Times

“…an emotionally and lyrically powerful novelization of the life of Sojourner Truth…offering a new way of looking at one of history’s greatest champions of freedom.”
-Publisher’s Weekly

“…Sheehan offers a solid portrait of slavery that also brings the child and young woman to life.”
-Kirkus Reviews

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Category: On Writing