Making a Way Out of No Way - by Meredith M Taylor

Book Synopsis

A richly imagined, photo illustrated narrative of 150 years of life in slavery on tobacco plantations in Southern Maryland

For over 165 years, plantation owners in Southern Maryland depended on the labor of enslaved men, women, and children to bring in the tobacco crop. The photographs and stories in this book grew out of the author's quest to understand how these people, who were subjected to a system that made every attempt to brutalize and dehumanize them, were able not only to survive but to build families and meaningful lives. Author Merideth Taylor has created a credible, well-researched, richly imagined world that is both informative and moving. The traditional central figure and linear plot of the novel has been replaced by an interwoven collage of scenes and community of characters, that reflect the diversity of experience, "silences," and incompleteness of the historical record. Her choice to largely avoid graphic depictions of the violence perpetrated on enslaved bodies allows the reader to focus, instead, on the remarkable resilience, ingenuity, skills, and cultural strengths that enabled them to make a way out of no way.

Author royalties will be donated to Historic Sotterley's Descendant's Project.

Review Quotes

"Making a Way Out of No Way is almost three dimensional -- almost more a museum exhibit than a book. It gives us an almost tangible sense, through stunning photographs and carefully crafted scenes, of the love, hope, endurance, and pride of the enslaved people who lived and labored at Sotterly and other plantations like it in Southern Maryland."--ELIZABETH A. PICKARD, historian, author Ruth's River Dreams

"Merideth Taylor is a storyteller. It's in the eyes that capture evocative images of the pedestrian. It's in the voice that imagines both the dissonance and harmony of humanity. It's in the soul that dances with the eyes and the voice to illuminate the boundless grace and wonder in Making a Way Out of No Way. Enjoy Merideth Taylor at her best."--IRIS CARTER FORD, PhD, Associate Professor Emerita, St. Mary's College of Maryland; Fellow, Historic Sotterley Plantation; Vice Chair, Montpelier Descendants Board of Directors

"Often when I'm looking through family records, bits and pieces of information make me wonder what everyday life was like for my ancestors. The vignettes in this book are a glimpse into that past."--THERESA THOMPSON TURNER, whose ancestors were enslaved in Southern Maryland

"There's something about knowing your history and its ability to sometimes 'rock your world' to its core. Especially when you realize there's so much more to your story. It's helping to introduce me to my history in a personal way."--T. DARLENE YORKSHIRE, daughter of James Timothy "Tim" Yorkshire, descendant of slaves associated with Sotterley and the Georgetown Memory Project

"This remarkable book combines everyday reality with imagination, fired by a deep knowledge of history and humanity. We may look around us, especially at historic places, and see landscapes and old objects placed here and there, and wonder what stories they might tell. Merideth Taylor tells us and thereby helps us to both look and think anew."--GEORGE McDANIEL, author, Drayton Hall Stories: A Place and Its People and Hearth and Home: Preserving a People's Culture

About the Author

Merideth M. Taylor is Professor Emerita of Theater and Dance at St. Mary's College of Maryland, and a founding member of the African and African Diaspora and Women Studies programs at the College. She is author of Listening in: Echoes and Artifacts from Maryland's Mother County; co-editor of In Relentless Pursuit of an Education: African American Stories from a Century of Segregation; and screenwriter/director of the documentaries With All Deliberate Speed: One High School's Story and Talking and Walking Common Ground.