Captured in Guinea as a child and sold into slavery in New
Orleans, Fanny Grundy gave birth to twenty-two children but was
allowed to keep only one. Her story, handed down through the
generations as oral history, was told to the author by her paternal
grandmother. Lydia English's memoir is a tribute to Fanny, to
Fanny's daughter Alice, and to six other women whom Dr.
English, an anthropologist, credited with shaping her character.