This document provides an overview and summary of Angela Yvonne Walker's 1966 novel Jubilee. It discusses that the book is based on stories Walker's grandmother told her about being a slave in Georgia. Walker first used these stories for a class assignment and later expanded them into her dissertation and published book. The book follows the life of a slave woman named Vyry from 1839 to the post-Civil War period of the 1870s and draws from oral histories and folk traditions to depict plantation life and the experiences of slaves.

1. Jubilee
 A brief introduction to the book, its context,
and its format

2. Answer this:
 Have you written any papers, essays,
that could possibly evolve into a
book?
 Would you be willing to write about
the history of your family for a book
to be assigned to an undergraduate
English course?
 What would you title it?

3. The Genesis of Jubilee
 Based upon Walker’s maternal
grandmother – Elvira Ware Dozier
 Dozier told Walker stories about slave
life in Georgia; Walker first used the
stories for a class assignment
 The collected stories grew into
Walker’s dissertation
 The dissertation became the book in
1966

4. “How I Wrote Jubilee”
 Essay written by Walker details the
process of writing the book
 From 1934-1966, the book was
written and worked on (rough drafts)
 The book was completed during the
Black Arts Movement (great timing for
marketing)
 Considered a slave narrative novel
 A reflective history: 1966 (author) to
1839 (character)

5. Basic Framework
 Based on the lives of Walker’s
maternal grandparents
 Begins with a death-ends with a birth
(significant and symbolic since death gives life
reality)
 Told from the point of view of a Black
woman
 Focus on family and life on the
plantation

6. Consider this:
 How does Walker’s present history
impact the history that she writes
about?
 Does our present perspective alter
the reality of the past truth?
 Can Walker be truly objective or is
fiction safer to be subjective?
 Why NOT write a biography instead of
a novel of grandma Dozier?

7. Ponder this….
 What is the true difference between
fiction and biography?
 Are all biographies true? What then is
the difference between an authorized
biography and an unauthorized
biography?
 How do you know the content of a
biography is accurate?

8. Walker states:
 “I had always intended Jubilee to be a
folk novel based on folk material: folk
sayings, folk beliefs, and folkways…”
 Note the title of her sections
 Note the epigraphs (old spirituals and
slave songs)
 Note the Biblical references
 Note the language, dialect of slaves

9. General format
 Follows format for slave narratives
 Oral history of Vyry
 The protagonist is a slave woman (a
more modern premise); most
protagonists were men
 Historic references are important in
this text; look for specific references
in each section

10. Sections of the Book
Section 1 = 1839-1860 (Bondage)
Section 2 = 1861-1865 (Escape)
Section 3 = 1866-1870 (Freedom)
Section 2 coincides with the Civil War
Section 3 coincides with the
Reconstruction Period
 Notes the events that occur during
each period






11. Similar to:
 Harriet Tubman (Do you know who
she is?)
 Maria Child – Incidents of a Life of A
Slave Girl
 Other slave narratives and oral
histories of early African American
writers
 Alex Haley’s Roots

12. Interesting facts
 Book was never considered for a film
because of Haley’s Roots
 The “seed” of the book was a
personal essay Walker had to write
for an English class
 L. Hughes felt that Walker modeled
Randall off of Wright; Wright was
mad