The Road to Margaret: A Story of Hope and Survival in the Industrial South
Lyn Stafford
In The Road to Margaret, Birmingham native Lyn Stafford confronts two mysteries: Who murdered her great grandfather, a civil engineer, in an Alabama mine? And, how did Gertrude Bradford, the beloved, Black cook and housekeeper from her childhood, lose one of her hands as a girl? Stafford searches for answers by tracing her father’s English immigrant roots, as well as Gertrude’s Black and Native American background. In telling their stories, and her own, Stafford gives readers a window into Alabama’s history, from the Trail of Tears and the bloody Civil War to the racial violence of the civil rights movement, the rise of labor unions, and the brutal and murderous schemes to suppress workers’ rights in the mining town of Margaret, Alabama and beyond. (Eastern Lake Books)