Houston Chronicle columnist, Chris Tomlinson, has embarked
on his first book, TOMLINSON HILL. He
was at Brazos Bookstore in Houston this week to read from his new historical narrative. TOMLINSON HILL is the stunning story of two
families—one white, one black—who trace their roots to a slave plantation that
bears their name.
I enjoyed listening to Tomlinson read several passages from his
book which delves into the family history of the two Tomlinson families in the
vicinity of Marlin, Texas and beyond.
His sources for the book are very familiar because I have been
researching the African American family named Willis in the same geographic
area.
Internationally recognized for his work as a fearless war
correspondent, award-winning journalist Chris Tomlinson grew up hearing stories
about his family’s abandoned cotton plantation in Falls County, Texas. Most of
the tales lionized his white ancestors for pioneering along the Brazos River.
His grandfather often said the family’s slaves loved them so much that they also
took Tomlinson as their last name.
LaDainian Tomlinson, football great and former running back
for the San Diego Chargers, spent part of his childhood playing on the same
land that his black ancestors had worked as slaves. As a child, LaDainian
believed the Hill was named after his family. Not until he was old enough to
read an historical plaque did he realize that the Hill was named for his
ancestor’s slaveholders.
A masterpiece of authentic American history, TOMLINSON HILL
traces the true and very revealing story of these two families. From the
beginning in 1854— when the first Tomlinson, a white woman, arrived—to 2007,
when the last Tomlinson, LaDainian’s father, left, the book unflinchingly
explores the history of race and bigotry in Texas. Along the way it also
manages to disclose a great many untruths that are latent in the unsettling and
complex story of America.
TOMLINSON HILL is also the basis for a film and an
interactive web project. The award-winning film, which airs on PBS,
concentrates on present-day Marlin, Texas and how the community struggles with
poverty and the legacy of race today, and is accompanied by an interactive web
site called Voices of Marlin, which stores the oral histories collected along
the way.
Chris Tomlinson has used the reporting skills he honed as a
highly respected reporter covering ethnic violence in Africa and the Middle
East to fashion a perfect microcosm of America’s own ethnic strife. The
economic inequality, political shenanigans, cruelty and racism—both subtle and
overt—that informs the history of TOMLINSON HILL also live on in many ways to
this very day in our country as a whole. The author has used his impressive
credentials and honest humanity to create a classic work of American history
that will take its place alongside the timeless work of our finest historians.
An interesting sidebar to this story is a list of four books
that influenced his staggering work. http://www.brazosbookstore.com/article/book-list/writers-read-chris-tomlinson
Learn about Voices of Marlin here:
http://voicesofmarlin.heroku.com/page/about
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Chris Tomlinson and Loreane Tomlinson discuss cotton-picking techniques during one of his many trips to Falls County. Photo credit: Waco Tribune |
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