Manassas Native Introduces Her Novel, "Yes'm'"

A Manassas native will discuss her novel chronicling life in a small segregated town in Virginia during the 1950s on Sunday at 2 p.m. during the Manassas Museum Book Talk. 

J. M. Duke will introduce her historical novel "Yes’m’" in which she describes an interracial realtionship between Pearl, the black hired help for an upper middle class white family, and her young charge, Samantha Lee.

The work is fictional, but may have been inspired by her experiences growing up in the Manassas area, according to a press release issued by the city.

The novel is a first-person narrative guided by the character Samantha who tells about her experiences with Pearl during the tumultuous era when the South struggles to transition into an intergrated society that includes rights for all, regardless of gender or race.

By 1969, having lived through two decades and diverse experiences, Sammie and Pearl find themselves still in the same small town, but in a very different place from where their epic story began, according to the release.

Duke said her goal is to capture a time familiar to many who lived in the South during that period. “Yes’m’" records a period of time and a way of life that has been overlooked,” Duke said. “It is a different take on the struggle for equal rights.”

Duke was also one of the authors of "The Times They Were a Changin'" a collective memoir by members of the Osbourn High School Class of 1969, according to the release. 

The memoir was compiled to preserve and present a small part of one generation in Manassas from 1950 through 1969.

Both books are available at Echoes, the Manassas Museum store.