Some people feel black people have no rights. That pretty much sums up the feelings of many white citizens of the southern states in 1954. In The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew, readers are taken back to a time and place in our country when African Americans had little control over their lives and were considered second-class citizens.

Jubie Watts is a 13 year-old girl who lives a comfortable life in Charlotte, North Carolina but her angst at being tall and gangly, standing in her sisters’ shadow, and worrying about her parents’ strained marriage is a burden from which she wants to escape. The light in Jubie’s life is the steadfast relationship she has with the family maid, Mary Luther, a black woman who is full of wisdom and encouragement. Hovering on the horizon is the Brown vs. Board of Education decision which is supposed to end school segregation, bringing with it even more racial tension than usual. In the midst of all of this, Jubie, her mother, older sister, younger sister, little brother and Mary embark on a road trip to Florida to visit her mother’s brother. Along the way, when stopping for sleeping accommodations, special arrangements have to be made for Mary; usually out in the back on a cot with an out-house for her facilities. But that is the way it is and everyone plays their role.

While on vacation at the beach near her uncle’s home, Jubie swims in the alluring waters of the Pensacola ocean, attends a carnival, meets a new friend in Leesum, a black boy of 15, and makes a discovery that explains her parents’ estrangement. Later, traveling through rural areas and small towns in Georgia on the way to the family’s next stop on their trip, Pawley’s Island, there is an accident which delays their trip and they stay over in Claxton for a few days. Estelle, Jubie’s older sister, in her religious fervor, drags Jubie and Mary to a black tent revival and that is when things go so very wrong. Thus, Jubie’s life is turned upside down that long hot summer by a series of tragic events; her innocence lost forever.

This book satisfied not only my hunger for good southern literature– family dynamics, racial theme, and well-sketched settings and characters against a backdrop of historical events; but it was a southern story by a white author writing about blacks that I could embrace. My first reaction when I learned that there was a black maid was to reject it, having been burned by the portrayal of maids in the best-selling book, The Help. However, this was a much more layered storyline and African Americans are portrayed as more three-dimensional and realistic. Moving, compelling, often poignant, this book is recommended for those who like southern literature and good storytelling.

Dera Williams
APOOO Literary Book Reviews

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