The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois is an epic chronology of a single African-American family in the American deep South, spanning multiple generations. Jeffers deeply researches the history and cultures of the Cherokee and Creek people in Georgia, as she crafts a work that compacts so much history into a singular epic tale of family and heritage. The journey of Ailey Pearl Garfield showcases the true essence of Black feminine power.
The novel is an extensive run down of ancestral influence, as it trickles down from one generation to another. From big decisions to small, the author paints a fine cause and effect path that shows how actions, or a lack thereof, influences the future in unimaginable proportions.
The aspect of the past is a key element in this story that dares to challenge the status quo. The past is a double-edged sword that could either liberate us or stifle our progress. Ailey traces her ancestral line four generations back to the slave period and discovers her ancestral background. She learns about her ancestors way back in Africa and the circumstances that led them to be forcefully brought to the New World.
Jeffers graphically expounds on the brutality of slavery and the effect that it has had on the community for generations. The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois is fascinating, grim, but mostly informative and insightful. Not only is trauma passed down from generation to generation, but also culture and way of life that keep us rooted to our identity as a people.
