BENJAMIN BANNEKER AND US Eleven Generations of an American Family

Listeners who relish the immediacy of an author's voice will embrace this story of generational memory and discovery. For generations, Rachel Webster's family identified as white. But after learning that they descended from the sister of Black Revolutionary-era surveyor and almanac maker Benjamin Banneker, Webster embarked on a quest to learn more details of her family's history. Her form is creative nonfiction, and her personal story is one thread of her narrative. In alternating chapters, she reconstructs the successive generations of Banneker's family, beginning in Colonial America, where marriage between a free Black and a former indentured servant was not uncommon. Webster is engaging, but she lacks the skill of an experienced narrator. Her narrative rests heavily on empathy and somewhat less on hard research. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2023]