Finding Francis

One Family's Journey from Slavery to Freedom

By: Elizabeth J. West

Narrated by: Machelle Williams

Finding Francis, finding family, freeing history

Francis is found. Beyond Francis, a family is found—in archival material that barely deigned to notice their existence. This is the story of Francis Sistrunk and her children, from enslavement into forced migration across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. It spans decades before the Civil War and continues into post-emancipation America. A family story full of twists and turns, Finding Francis reclaims and honors those women who played an essential role in the historical survival and triumph of Black people during and after American slavery.

Elizabeth West has created a remarkable "biohistoriography" of everyday Black resistance, grounded in a determination to maintain enduring connections of family, kinship, and community despite the inhumanity and rapacity of slavery. There is inevitable heartbreak in these histories, but there is also an empowering strength and inspiration—the truth of these lives will indeed set us all free.

©2022 University of South Carolina (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

More than expected

I’m not sure what I was expecting with this book, but the twists and turns of tracing back to find her ancestors, with none of the basic documents that help in white ancestry searches, fascinated me. It is an exceptional history and honoring of the author’s family story.