Princess of the Hither Isles

A Black Suffragist’s Story from the Jim Crow South

By: Adele Logan Alexander

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

A compelling reconstruction of the life of a Black suffragist, Adella Hunt Logan, blending family lore, historical research, and literary imagination....

Born during the Civil War into a slaveholding family that included Black, White, and Cherokee forebears, Adella Hunt Logan dedicated herself to advancing political and educational opportunities for the African American community. She taught at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute but also joined the segregated woman suffrage movement, passing for White in order to fight for the rights of people of color. Her determination - as a wife, mother, scholar, and activist - to challenge the draconian restraints of race and gender generated conflicts that precipitated her tragic demise.

Historian Adele Logan Alexander - Adella Hunt Logan's granddaughter - portrays Adella, her family, and contemporaries such as Booker T. Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, Theodore Roosevelt, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Alexander bridges the chasms that frustrate efforts to document the lives of those who traditionally have been silenced, weaving together family lore, historical research, and literary imagination into a riveting, multigenerational family saga.

©2019 Adele Logan Alexander (P)2019 Tantor

Interesting family memoir

Princess of the Hither Isles is an interesting book. Adele Logan Alexander brings together a broad swath of American history through the life of her grandmother.

The audio book helped me stay interested in the very detailed story and also historical context.

Some of the narrator’s accents were stereotypical and exaggerated. I wondered if having a couple of narrators would have made it better.

Too many characters hard to keep straight.

Written somehow without feeling, despite heartbreaking events. Memorable only are the characters I already knew about. Or knew.

I know some of it is made up or consolidated for convenience and privacy

The author rightly admits she had to use creative writing skills for some of the story but the book is interesting and tells of four generations of American history which can be collaborated with other sources. I enjoyed this Audiobook and am glad I listed until the end. I recommend this book as an additional entertaining look into American history and how our ancestors were influenced and connected to one another.