{"title":"Rachel L. Swarns","description":"Rachel L. Swarns is a journalism professor at New York University and a contributing writer for The New York Times. She is the author of American Tapestry and a co-author of Unseen. Her work has been recognized and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, the Biographers International Organization, the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the MacDowell artist residency program, and others.","products":[{"product_id":"american-tapestry-the-story-of-the-black-white-and-multiracial-ancestors-of-michelle-obama-paperback","title":"American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA remarkable history of First Lady Michelle Obama's mixed ancestry, \u003cem\u003eAmerican Tapestry\u003c\/em\u003e by Rachel L. Swarns is nothing less than a breathtaking and expansive portrait of America itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this extraordinary feat of genealogical research--in the tradition of \u003cem\u003eThe Hemmingses of Monticello \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eSlaves in the Family\u003c\/em\u003e--author Swarns, a respected Washington-based reporter for the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e, tells the fascinating and hitherto untold story of Ms. Obama's black, white, and multiracial ancestors; a history that the First Lady herself did not know.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt once epic, provocative, and inspiring, \u003cem\u003eAmerican Tapestry\u003c\/em\u003e is more than a true family saga; it is an illuminating mirror in which we may all see ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMichelle Obama's family saga is a remarkable, quintessentially American story--a journey from slavery to the White House in five generations. In this prodigiously researched epic, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e correspondent Rachel L. Swarns traces that complex and fascinating tale--from the men who fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, to the mothers and fathers who endured the horrors of slavery and the indignities of segregation to build a better future for their children--uncovering details about Mrs. Obama's black, white, and multiracial forebears that even the First Lady herself did not know. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough an intimate family history, \u003cem\u003eAmerican Tapestry\u003c\/em\u003e is also the collective chronicle of our changing nation, a beautifully rendered and singularly inspiring story with resonance for us all. \u003c\/p\u003e--\u003cem\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/em\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMichelle Obama's family saga is a remarkable, quintessentially American story--a journey from slavery to the White House in five generations. In this prodigiously researched epic, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e correspondent Rachel L. Swarns traces that complex and fascinating tale--from the men who fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, to the mothers and fathers who endured the horrors of slavery and the indignities of segregation to build a better future for their children--uncovering details about Mrs. Obama's black, white, and multiracial forebears that even the First Lady herself did not know. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough an intimate family history, \u003cem\u003eAmerican Tapestry\u003c\/em\u003e is also the collective chronicle of our changing nation, a beautifully rendered and singularly inspiring story with resonance for us all. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365562384607,"sku":"9780061999871","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/4cKMXiU4zI9780061999871.webp?v=1789066371"},{"product_id":"the-272-the-families-who-were-enslaved-and-sold-to-build-the-american-catholic-church-paperback","title":"The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"An absolutely essential addition to the history of the Catholic Church, whose involvement in New World slavery sustained the Church and, thereby, helped to entrench enslavement in American society.\"--Annette Gordon-Reed, \u003cb\u003ePulitzer Prize-winning \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe Hemingses of Monticello\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eOn Juneteenth\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003eEditors' Choice - Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Time, \u003c\/i\u003eChicago Public Library, \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1838, a group of America's most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University. In this groundbreaking account, journalist, author, and professor Rachel L. Swarns follows one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States. Through the saga of the Mahoney family, Swarns illustrates how the Church relied on slave labor and slave sales to sustain its operations and to help finance its expansion. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe story begins with Ann Joice, a free Black woman and the matriarch of the Mahoney family. Joice sailed to Maryland in the late 1600s as an indentured servant, but her contract was burned and her freedom stolen. Her descendants, who were enslaved by Jesuit priests, passed down the story of that broken promise for centuries. One of those descendants, Harry Mahoney, saved lives and the church's money in the War of 1812, but his children, including Louisa and Anna, were put up for sale in 1838. One daughter managed to escape, but the other was sold and shipped to Louisiana. Their descendants would remain apart until Rachel Swarns's reporting in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e finally reunited them. They would go on to join other GU272 descendants who pressed Georgetown and the Catholic Church to make amends, prodding the institutions to break new ground in the movement for reparations and reconciliation in America. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSwarns's journalism has already started a national conversation about universities with ties to slavery. \u003ci\u003eThe 272\u003c\/i\u003e tells an even bigger story, not only demonstrating how slavery fueled the growth of the American Catholic Church but also shining a light on the enslaved people whose forced labor helped to build the largest religious denomination in the nation.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368241594591,"sku":"9780399590870","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/cxxf6ha6Gb9780399590870.webp?v=1789125090"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/rachel-l-swarns.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}