These Low Grounds

"Life emerges sharp and clear in its outlines, forceful and blunt in its impact, and is as real as good rich black earth, and as free of superficialities." — Ralph Ellison

A forerunner of family history legacies such as Alex Haley's Roots, this lost classic of African American literature traces the lives and struggles of four generations, from Martha, a freed slave turned housemaid, to her great-grandson Jimmy, an athlete who dreams of becoming a teacher and improving the lives of others.

"A fine and important book, dramatic and exciting." — Edna Ferber

"The most striking quality in These Low Grounds is the remarkable and just and fair balance." — The New York Times

"[Turpin] treats his characters as people, hating, loving, striving, facing disillusionment, rather than looking at them as a race apart, stage props, plantation incongruities in a modern civilization . . . . It is a good story, convincingly told." — Kirkus Reviews

Waters E. Turpin (1910–1968) was an educator, novelist, playwright, director, television lecturer, and drama critic. Turpin taught and wrote widely, although he published only three novels: These Low Grounds (1937); followed by O Canaan! (1939), which traces the Depression-era progress of migratory farmers from the South to Chicago; and The Rootless (1957).