Essie Mae Washington-Williams' Dear Senator is an odyssey of self-discoveries beginning with a self-proclaimed somewhat idyllic childhood in the small northeastern town of Coatesville Pennsylvania to a sidebar in New York's Harlem Hospital where she attempts to pursue a nursing career, to university life on a post-reconstruction black campus in South Carolina, to marriage, and finally California.
As a teenager Essie-Mae meets her African American mother Carrie Butler for the first time and is later introduced to her European American father, Strom Thurmond who also happens to be a major political figure, a staunch segregationist, in the south. Set against the backdrop of 1930's through the present the relationship between Essie Mae and her famous father is interweaved with major American political events shaping the course of both of their lives. | ||
Plot & Themes Ethnic/Relig. of subject (inside) If this is a culture clash: - minority culture living in majority area Ethnic/regional/gender Yes Period of greatest activity? - 1950+ Subject of Biography Gender - Female Profession/status: Ethnicity - Black Nationality - American Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 2 () United States Yes The US: - Deep South City? Yes Small town? Yes Writing Style How much dialogue in bio? - significantly more descript than dialog |