March 2002
Interview with debut author, Hilda Gurley-Highgate
In celebration of this being "A Woman's World" Month for our reading club, we feel fortunate and blessed to have been able to catch up with new author, Hilda Gurley - Highgate, to talk about her impressive new novel, SAPPHIRE'S GRAVE . This book which traces the lives of Sapphire and her descendants depicts the true meaning of roots and the kind of strong link that exist among black women and their female ancestors.
MsGRITS/MsLo: Ms. Hilda Gurley-Highgate it is indeed our pleasure to feature your new book, Sapphire's Grave , on our website the whole month of February 2003 and this interview with you during March 2003 as we celebrate the stories and experiences of women this month. Now before we talk further about your book, please share with us something about yourself and what you do professionally.
H. G-H: During the day, I am an environmental attorney. I am also a licensed pharmacist and a performance poet.
MsGRITS: How did you come to write SAPPHIRE'S GRAVE? By chance, is this a fictionalize account into your own ancestry?
H. G-H: No, Sapphire's Grave is not specifically based on the lives of my own ancestors. It was inspired more generally by those of our foremothers whose brazen, scandalous behavior has caused us so much collective shame and embarrassment, and who ultimately became the basis for stereotypes that are still applied to black women-Sapphire, Jezebel, Mammy, the Tragic Mulatto. I wanted to re-create these stereotypes within the social, historical and political context in which black women have had to make choices, however limited our options, and live our lives. Coming out of a long history of sexual servitude, with so much of our lives affected by racism, sexism, poverty, physical and emotional violence, and abandonment, not all of us have had the luxury of "virtue," historically or to this day. So I tried to tell a story that portrayed these "mouthy" women with mad attitude, these "skanks" and "sell-outs," with love and a little more understanding than the convenient labels allow.
MsLo: Does your career in Law stem from your ancestral roots and the limitations stifling first slaves and then women?
H. G-H: My interest in environmental law is related to my roots. My parents are from Warren County, North Carolina, where much of Sapphire's Grave is set. I think that Warren County still has the distinction of being the blackest, poorest county in North Carolina, and has been hailed as the birthplace of the movement against environmental racism.
MsGRITS: The times in which your female characters lived and their struggles from slavery to the present is vivid and compelling. How much research into the middle passage, the slave era and the feminist movement did you do for this book and how were you able to decide exactly what content to cover in this novel?
H. G-H: I did just enough research into the Middle Passage to determine how the ancestors of a woman from Sierra Leone might have ultimately ended up in North Carolina-slave ship routes, the relationship between Sierra Leone and the South Carolina rice plantations, the movement of slaves between states, etc. My knowledge of the slave era and the feminist movement do not come from research done specifically for this book. My perceptions of the slave era and the status of black women over the years are based on a self-education that has been ongoing for years, and still continues. The content of the novel flowed from my objective-most of the book is post-slavery because I was more concerned with the aftermath of slavery and its effect on the social status of black women, rather than with the slave era itself.
MsLo: Was your story the reason you decided to write; or was telling this story something that you felt you had or needed to do?
H. G-H: I felt that it was a story that needed to be told, but Sapphire's Grave is not the only reason I am writing. Writing is my first love, and something I had always intended to do, and I have a few more stories I would like to tell.
MsGRITS: Speaking of this being a story that needed to be told, there have been a few stories written lately which chronicle the lives of women with regards to history. How is your story different?
H. G-H: Sapphire's Grave is a story about African-American women, which is to say that it is very different from a story about European-American or other women. Also, most of the heroines are fictional composites of the kinds of women we are not proud to call "sister," the ones who give the rest of us a bad name. In Sapphire's Grave, these women's lives are celebrated for what they can teach us. Most importantly, I am a pastor's daughter and a church girl at heart, so there is a strong spiritual element to Sapphire's Grave. It is ultimately a book about our relationship to God, about triumph, and about healing.
MsLo: Your title, Sapphire's Grave , is very interesting. What is its significance?
H. G-H: Sapphire represents, among other things, the various vilified images of black women that refuse to die. (Examples of how Sapphire still lives: black women are still criticized for being belligerent and quarrelsome, like the Sapphire character from the old Amos and Andy show. Meanwhile, our brothers make millions perpetuating stereotypes about our sexuality-the notion of black woman as Jezebel, or whore, an unfortunate, "cotton field" mentality that has survived to this day.) Key to these images being finally laid to rest is black women's refusal to be defined by other people's labels, other people's judgments, other people's interpretations of our actions. Until we do this, Sapphire will never be lain to rest.
MsGRITS: I must say that this is a beautiful book from the cover design to the layout and overall look of the text. How much input did you have in the total packaging and presentation of this novel? H. G-H: Thank you. I have Doubleday to thank for the cover design. I was asked for input, but the suggestions were the publisher's. I had specific ideas about the layout and fonts, which I incorporated into the manuscript. Doubleday printed the text as I suggested and also came up with other ideas for the layout. I think it worked out well. MsLo: From the moment you began writing to holding this book in your hands, how long did it take to publish this novel? H. G-H: That's a tough question. Prior to writing Sapphire's Grave, I wrote short stories. So some of Sapphire's Grave was written years before I knew that I was writing Sapphire's Grave. I also put the manuscript down and did not work on it for months at a time while my attention was turned to other projects, like planning my wedding! But from the writing, through the publishing process, to the final product -- I am guessing about six years. MsGRITS: What's next for Hilda Gurley-Highgate? Are there any book tours, speaking engagements . . . or simply another novel in the works?
H. G-H: I don't have a "tour" planned. I have been doing readings and book - signings locally in the Detroit area, and I will be making appearances in a number of cities in the coming months to promote Sapphire's Grave . I am also working on a couple of other manuscripts.
MsGRITS/MsLo: Ms. Gurley-Highgate, thank you for chatting with us and you are indeed a new talent that we hope to hear more from in the future.
H. G-H: Thanks. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and the G.R.I.T.S. Online Reading Club. And thank you for choosing to feature Sapphire's Grave on the G.R.I.T.S. web page. Your support is so important to the success of aspiring writers.
