Jubilee (novel)


Jubilee is a historical novel written by Margaret Walker, which focuses on the story of a biracial slave during the American Civil War. It is set in Georgia and later in various parts of Alabama in the mid-19th century before, during, and after the Civil War.

Plot summary

Jubilee is the semi-fictional story of Vyry Brown, based on the life of author Margaret Walker's great-grandmother, Margaret Duggans Ware Brown. Vyry Brown is a mixed-race slave — the unacknowledged daughter of her master — who is born on the Dutton plantation in Georgia. The novel follows her experiences from early childhood to adult life.
The story of Vyry's life in the novel spans three major periods of American history: Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

Characters

The historic novel is set in parts of Georgia and Alabama, such as:
1835–1870

Historical events (chronological order)

Before the Civil War the Bible was quoted to justify slavery as a natural and righteous state. Slaves meanwhile identified with the Old Testament Hebrew slaves who were liberated by Moses.
Jubilee follows the course of the Civil War and Reconstruction, where violence by the Ku Klux Klan was unfortunately common. Specific events from this historical novel include:
  1. 1857: The South was victorious in the Dred Scott case.
  2. March 4, 1861: Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the sixteenth president of the United States.
  3. April 1861: Guns of Charleston, South Carolina, fired on the Federal flag at Fort Sumter. President Lincoln declared the seceded states of the Confederacy to be in a state of rebellion which must be put down if the Union was to be preserved.
  4. July 1861: The capital of the Confederacy was moved from Montgomery to Richmond.
  5. 1862: The South was winning the war.
  6. July 18, 1862: 'Fighting Joe' Wheeler was named commander of the cavalry of the Army of Tennessee by General Bragg.
  7. Summer of 1863: Battle of Gettysburg with General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia which "failed in their second attempt to invade northern territory"
  8. July 1863: Battle of Vicksburg with General Ulysses S. Grant.
  9. 1863: Marked a turning of the tide in favor of the Union forces ; word spread that Abraham Lincoln would issue an proclamation to free slaves in Union-held territories. Thousands of slaves fled plantations. The South saw a wholesale disappearance of blacks seeking the "protection of the Union armies". Abraham Lincoln was seen by blacks as a new Moses. The war also evinced technological progress: Union soldiers now fought with repeating rifles and longer projectiles, while the navy began to use iron-clad gunboats instead of wooden sail ships.
  10. February 17, 1864: To fight currency depreciation, the Confederate Congress passed Treasury Secretary Christopher Memminger's plan requiring citizens to turn in their paper currency and buy long-term war bonds. The measure failed to prevent the collapse of Confederate credit.
  11. August 7, 1864: End of the naval battle on Mobile Bay, a Union victory
  12. January 1, 1865: Emancipation Proclamation repeated in Georgia
  13. 1868: The Ku Klux Klan rode for three days and nights during the national elections, resulting in terrible violence.

    Events in Vyry's life (chronological order)

  14. Sis Hetta dies from childbirth
  15. Vyry becomes a slave at a toddler age
  16. Granny Ticey and Mammy Sukey die
  17. Miss Salina hangs Vyry by her thumbs in the closet for breaking one of her china dishes
  18. Brother Zeke baptizes Vyry as she now enters womanhood
  19. Grandpa Tom is killed by Grimes for not giving Grimes a fine horse
  20. Aunt Sally is sold as Miss Salina does not like her; Salina and John Dutton go through cooks trying to find a cook who can cook as well as Aunt Sally. John Dutton considers selling Aunt Sally a mistake until Vyry is discovered as a cook whose food is identical to that of Aunt Sally's. Vyry is put into the Big House and works as a cook.
  21. Vyry meets Randall Ware as she is supposed to give him food. He immediately takes interest in Vyry; whereas Vyry only develops love for him after he promises her freedom
  22. Lucy badtalks Miss Salina during a party, gets beaten, runs away, is caught, and gets branded
  23. Fourth of July celebration- priests rant about slaves listening to their masters
  24. Lucy runs away a second time and manages to escape from the Dutton Plantation
  25. Vyry asks John Dutton if she can marry Randall Ware. Knowing how precious of a cook Vyry is, John Dutton decides that the two may get married only after his death
  26. John Dutton dies
  27. John Dutton Jr. dies
  28. Kevin dies
  29. Salina dies
  30. Vyry and kids are free after a man comes to emancipate the slaves
  31. Vyry meets Innis Brown as he tries to protect her and Miss Lillian from a robber
  32. Vyry and Innis move to Alabama as they get married
  33. Vyry and Innis get flooded out of their house by the Chattahochee River and lose most of their belongings
  34. Vyry and Innis sign the contract for another house, stating that they must pay off the house with crops made on the land, however the land has bad soil. Vyry and Innis cannot pay off the house or make a living
  35. Vyry and Innis leave to Troy, Pike County
  36. Vyry and Innis' house is burned down by KKK
  37. Vyry and Innis travel to Luvenere
  38. Vyry and Innis get land in Butler County near Greenville
  39. Vyry visits Ms. Lucy and Ms. Lillian in Georgia
  40. Vyry and Innis move into their permanent house
  41. Vyry earns a living by selling goods in a nearby town
  42. Vyry helps a woman give birth as Vyry hears the woman's screams while selling her goods in the town. The woman does not take Vyry as a black woman, for Vyry's skin is fair. Vyry helps to settle racial confusion or stereotypes the woman and her husband have. The woman and her husband take note that Vyry is kind and gentle and feel comfortable around Vyry.
  43. Woman and family help Vyry build her house
  44. Innis Brown beats Jim
  45. Randall Ware visits and takes Jim to school in the city
  46. Vyry expects a baby with Innis Brown

    Court case

In 1978, Margaret Walker sued Alex Haley, claiming that his 1976 novel had violated Jubilee's copyright by borrowing from her novel. The case was dismissed.

Adaptation

Jubilee was adapted into a three-act opera by Ulysses Kay, to a libretto by Donald Dorr; it was commissioned by Opera/South and premiered in 1976.