The illuminating and deeply personal debut from Gabriela Maya
Bernadett, Stories My Grandmother Told Me explores culture, race, and
chosen family, set against the backdrop of the twentieth-century
American Southwest.
In a hilly Southern California suburb in the late twentieth century,
Gabriela Maya Bernadett listens as her grandmother tells her a story.
It's the true story of Esther Small, the great-granddaughter of slaves,
who became one of the few Black students to graduate from NYU in the
1940s. Having grown up in Harlem, Esther couldn't imagine a better place
to live; especially not somewhere in the American Southwest.
But when she learns of a job teaching Native American children on a
reservation, Esther decides to take a chance. She soon finds herself on
a train to Fort Yuma, Arizona; unaware that each year, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs kidnaps the native Tohono O'odham children from the
reservation and forces them to be educated in the 'ways of the White
man.' It doesn't take long for Esther to notice how Fort Yuma parallels
her own grandmother's story as a slave in the South--the native
children, constantly belittled by teachers and peers, are forced to
perform manual labor for local farmers.
One of two Black people in Fort Yuma, Esther feels isolated, never sure
where she belongs in a community deeply divided between the White people
and the Tohono O'odhams. John, the school bus driver and Tohono O'odham
tribe member, is one of the only people she connects with. Friendship
slowly grows into love, and together, Esther and John navigate a
changing America.
Seamlessly weaving in the present day with the past, Stories My
Grandmother Told Me blends a woman's memory of her life, and that
woman's granddaughter's memories of how she heard these stories growing
up. Bernadett's captivating narrative explores themes of identity,
tradition, and belonging, showing what it really means to exist in a
multicultural America.
