All Bones Be White

by Judith G. Yates Shearer

Overview

All Bones Be White is the story of Cassy, a slave who was owned by a Revolutionary War hero. Cassy was tried for murdering her owner's youngest daughter, Phenaty. Gustavus A. Henry, a 29-year old lawyer distantly related to American patriot Patrick Henry, defended Cassy at her trial. Told in the second person, offering readers intrigue, murder, and redemption, the lives of three women-a slave, a murder victim, and the author as she discovers that her family had owned slaves-are woven together to reveal Cassy's story of what happened in 1833 America and why it still matters today.

All Bones Be White was nominated and accepted to be included on the book list for the Kentucky Society for the Daughters of the American Revolution.

For more information, please visit www.judyshearer.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761855491
Publisher:	Hamilton Books
Publication date:	06/29/2011
Pages:	122
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Judith G. Yates Shearer lives and writes near the lakes in western Kentucky. She holds an MFA in writing from Spalding University and teaches part-time at Murray State University. This is her first book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction ix

1 Cassy Waits 1

2 What Does Lie Beneath 8

3 This County Named Christian 31

4 Murder At A Well 55

5 Riding A Death Wagon 79

6 Afterwards 87

Bibliography 91

Editorial Reviews

All Bones Be White is a profound story of two women, one black and one white, who find each other across time and circumstance. It's a book of healing and remembrance, a book that refuses to ignore the history below our feet and the human beings who gave their lives so that we might live. Like Shearer, we are drawn into Cassy's life, like Shearer we imagine how it could have been, how it should have been, and how we hope it may never be again.

Rebecca Walker

Shearer's book All Bones Be White brings Cassy back to life, and we learn about the extenuating circumstances of what happened that day long ago. Shearer above all shows us Cassy's humanity. We feel as if we're right there with her in her jail cell as Cassy tells us her story, in her simple affecting way. It's a story of a human spirit standing up to power. Even in defeat, the dignity of that spirit remains. Cassy will haunt you, as she has me.

Richard Goodman

It takes equal amounts of passion, talent and nerve to try to fathom a forgotten life. Through her determined efforts to unearth the history of a slave named Cassy, Judith Shearer brings to light difficult truths about race in America, and about the invisible bonds that make us who we are.

Cathleen Medwick