Happenstance Factual Encounters, which developed writing Song of Jaybird
While researching Song of Jaybird, I discovered some strange and remarkable facts that influenced my writing.
Here are a few interesting tidbits and how they were woven into the story. If you have read Song of Jaybird, you can recognize where I used this information. If you haven’t read about Black Labor’s life and hardships in a turpentine camp, I hope this invites you to learn more.
Fact 1: The scene I described with a crow stealing a bunny was an event I witnessed while walking my dog in my neighborhood. I watched the crow’s claws snatch its victim, take it to a nearby tree, and then heard the bunny squeal. What shocked me was how the mother rabbit ran to the tree's base, looking up on her hind legs, grieving and helpless. I stood and watched, feeling helpless myself. After I returned from the walk, I wrote down this event and knew I would be able to use it somewhere in Song of Jaybird. It wasn’t until Delia struggled with her loss that I was inspired to use the description as she watched this emotional scene, relating it to her grief.
Fact 2: In my June 11th blog, “Influence of Zora Neale Hurston,” I referenced an interesting fact I read in Valerie Boyd’s Wrapped in a Rainbow. Boyd, an anthropologist, who documented the practice of African Hoo Doo. She wrote, “If a man was murdered, for example, a hoodoo doctor might counsel his loved one to bury him with his hat on so the murderer would be brought to justice.” (p. 177) This sentence jumped off the page for me. This information did not influence the story's writing but confirmed a practice I described beforehand. This fact reassured me that Delia and I had a character-writer relationship. When I wrote about Delia’s experiences in the turpentine camp, I had to think like her and wondered what she would do in her situation.
Fact 3: Online documentation of the period's newspapers and journals was a tremendous help in creating scenes with the Naval Store Owners. Readers can sit in smoky meetings or train rides to Ocala or Jacksonville and overhear conversations as I imagined reading the newspaper and journals. Thanks to journalists’ interpretation of the Pine Barrons, there was a variety of opinions about the Black Labor they held in debt peonage and the steps they took to keep them enslaved in the forest. There was also the fact that newspaper subscriptions were sent to some turpentine camps; the possibility of the laborers hearing what the “white cats” thought of them could be woven into the story.
Fact 4: I love investigating! It was a thrill to discover a copy of the post office registration form on the USPS archival records. I wrote in a play on words regarding the name change of Etna; I wonder if any of my readers picked up on the meanings. I had fun writing this when research revealed a probable reason.
Please let me know if you reconnected to these facts as you read Song of Jaybird or if you know the play on words in Chapter 16-Post Office. I would love to hear from you.
