What People are Saying...
Hush Now, Baby is not only a portrait of the astonishing strength and beauty of a Southern black woman, but it also brings a focus to the history so many Southerners only dimly grasp: the ongoing evolution of their society. And all this is accomplished within a gripping novel-like family narrative.
Rosa Shand, author of The Gravity of Light
Hush Now, Baby is the moving, insightful story of stalwart caregiver Eva and the stability, love and example she brought to the life of her charge, Angela, during a tumultuous time in the American South. This is a tale of transcendence, love, and devotion, of a family and a people tattered with strife. Angela Williams writes with grace and bravery, and with a seasoned storytellers pacing and command of figurative language. A captivating memoir, Hush Now, Baby will leave you loving and admiring Eva, and cheering for her and Angela all the way.
Michel Stone, author of The Iguana Tree
Angelas memoir belongs right next to Rick Braggs All Over but the Shoutin and James McBrides The Color of Water. It is truly wonderful on any level you measure it.
Mary B. Johnston, Editor, Word Works Stories
Angelas prose plunges us back in time when a generation of white children were raised by the calloused hands of slaves who, despite being freed by Lincoln, remained chained to a stubborn way of life. Instead of killing us in our sleep, they became our guardian angels, for reasons still mysteriously misunderstood.
Ken Burger, author of Swallow Savannah
Hush Now, Baby is a moving and unforgettable memoir which explores the complexity of race, family, love, loyalty, self-awareness and forgiveness with rare courage and honesty. This is a book youll want to give everyone you know!
Cassandra King, author of Moonrise
If you liked The Help, youll love Hush Now, Baby.
Steve Ferber, journalist & author of 21 Rules to Live By
Youll not put this aside until youve read it cover to cover. When a rich little white girl, newly born, is placed into the arms of a poor and uneducated black woman, its a beginning to last a lifetime. Angela Williams is audacious. In this true, brave tale she honors the woman who became, in essence, her mother, while in so doing, she unveils the secrets of her influential white family. All this, with the backdrop of a confused and racially changing south. Just when I thought I understood the South, here came Angie and Eva.
Ceille Baird Welch, playwright
As the cocoon unraveled around Angela, we see her spirit awakening and a deep resolve to speak out for the African-American voices often hushed in the 40s and 50s. Her account of Southern life provides a thought-provoking, realistic view of those turbulent decades. While slowly grasping how injustices permeated Southern culture, she faced her own familys struggles with abuse, alcoholism, and philanderingEva the steady core through it all.
Dr. Patricia Williams, Professor Emerita
Sam Houston State University
Angela Williams has an amazing story to tell about her life growing up in South Carolina. Angela (now 73 years old) was raised by an African American woman in her parents household. The story is not about her black mamie but a story of the extraordinary bond she shared with a woman that she identifies as her mother. Angelas, Hush Now, Baby has tremendous potential to highlight race relations, the civil rights movement, and southern life from the perspective of a white female growing up in a chaotic period in American history.
Dr. Marcus W. Cox, author of Segregated Soldiers
Angela W. Williams
Texas Review Press
Huntsville, Texas
Copyright 2015 by Angela W. Williams
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
FIRST EDITION, 2014
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:
Permissions
Texas Review Press
English Department
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, TX 77341-2146
Cover Designer: Nancy Parsons
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams, Angela W., 1941- author.
Hush now, baby : the help becomes family / Angela W. Williams. -- First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-68003-034-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Dysfunctional families--South Carolina--Fiction. 2. African American women household employees--South Carolina--Fiction. 3. Women household employees--South Carolina--Fiction. 4. Women slaves--South Carolina--Fiction. 5. South Carolina--Social life and customs--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.I556285H87 2015
813'.6--dc23
2015003436
In Memory
Eva Edwards Motte Aiken, whose unconditional love shaped the person I have become,
Roberta S. Chalmers, whose teaching became an inspiration for doing the hard work of introspection,
Richard O. Straub, whose unswerving encouragement brought me professional and personal joy
Dedicated to
LaClaire and Erick, my precious childrenand Bobby, Josh and Gray. May understanding the past enrich your future.
Prologue
Hush Now, Baby emanates from personal reflections of Eva Aikens influence on my early life, an exploration of civil rights issues and the subsequent embarrassment that I knew so little, did so little. As an adult I have felt guilt and rage, rage at myself and my country. The urge to do something, if nothing more than to reach back and touch the Eva wisdom, has plagued me for years. I grew out of an uneasy childhood on the backbone of a black woman who loved me unabashedly. And Im grateful.
Soon after I was born in 1941, Eva Aiken, a forty-two-year old black woman, joined my traditional Lowcountry South Carolina family. She became the central figure in my life from then until the day I married.