Cynthia Norfleet Donaldson

Hidden History Cynthia Norfleet Donaldson

Hidden History: My Family's Ancestral Stories is a collection of portraits of an African American family, revealing a history never before told. The project stems from Cynthia Norfleet Donaldson's lifelong interest in her ancestral history, which prompted her to probe deeply to find her family's roots. After more than thirty years of meticulous research, the stories of five generations of ancestors emerged. The author presents an all too rarely seen part of American history, complete with a rich portrayal of the complex, unspoken tragedies suffered by her ancestors as the American Civil War ends and continuing through post-Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, and the 20th century. The narrative includes anecdotal stories from family members, entwined with historical documentation gathered from online genealogy resources. The stories are a saga of real, flesh-and-blood men and women making hard choices in life and, more often than not, triumphing over challenges.