A Stronger Kinship: One Town's Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith
by Anna-Lisa Cox
Published by Little, Brown and Company
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Reviewed by Jean M. Holewa
Defined as "concealment and shelter," Covert, Michigan is an aptly named place. American history lessons taught in the 1960s never mentioned the fact that this town existed as a fully integrated community in the 1860s. Now nearly 150 years later, as we strive for racial equality, it is enlightening to know that it is part of our American heritage.
Anna-Lisa Cox has completed exhaustive research of the people and events that converged in a time that racism was so prevalent, three million Americans went to war to defend their beliefs.
A Stronger Kinship is filled with the names and histories of the people who created this concealed community founded on acceptance. In a time when education was not readily available to many whites in the unsettled frontiers of the Midwest, black and white children learned side-by-side in Covert. Interracial marriages and an equal distribution of wealth and property were normal.
At times it is a struggle to keep track of the names and dates, particularly when more than one person has the same name. Ample footnotes help guide the reader. More than a novel, this book is a historical depiction of important and relevant events.
Armchair Interviews says: Seeming too good to be true, it's hard to believe that such a wonderful legacy has not been widely honored and celebrated by history and all Americans.