A FEW WORDS ABOUT WORDS
BOOKSMART
Freedom Lost, Freedom Found: A Personal History of America
Major John Hammond Fordham
By DIANE HARRIS
All at once, this book is a classic Black American history lesson and a love letter to the ancestors.
Eugene Robinson’ s story begins with how his once enslaved greatgreat grandfather, Henry Fordham, incredibly managed to purchase his own freedom in Charleston, South Carolina.
From this beginning,“ Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America” traces Robinson’ s family lineage from 1829 and walks us through The Civil War, Reconstruction, World War I, right up to the election of the first Black President of the United States. The historical events presented in the book are well-known and well-documented. But Robinson takes the reader directly to the scene with a deeply personal and local lens. He projects these events through the eyes of family members whose lives intertwined with
the newsmakers who famously lived through them.
Robinson grew up in the“ family house” in Orangeburg, South Carolina, which was built by
Henry Fordham’ s son, Major John Hammond Fordham( Robinson’ s great grandfather). Major Fordham( he earned his military title through service in a Charleston-based Black militia called the Carolina Light Infantry) was educated at the Avery Normal Institute, the first fully accredited secondary school for Black students in Charleston. It was established by the American Missionary Association, which arrived in Charleston in 1865 to educate the children of recently freed Black families.
Major Fordham was also mentored and tutored by a sympathetic White lawyer who recognized his talent. He became one of the first Black attorneys certified to practice in the state of South Carolina. Later a prominent member of the Republican Party, he traveled extensively to conventions as a delegate or alternate from South Carolina.
Robinson includes pictures, memorabilia, speeches delivered by his great grandfather, and a letter from President Theodore Roosevelt delivered to him in 1903.
This book also delivers rich stories about the Southern family lifestyle that Robinson’ s family enjoyed. Fordham and his wife, Louisa, had six children. The youngest daughter, Sadie( Robinson’ s feisty grandmother), was renowned for her cooking and musical prowess. An old family photo shows“ a long line of people at our front door, queued as if for a soup kitchen,” he writes. A family story, as told by Robinson’ s mother, also named Louisa, is about the pastor of Trinity Methodist Church was hosting a statewide event.
“ Rather than ask Sadie to organize and prepare food for these visitors, as Trinity always did, this reverend had the nerve to get someone else to do it. Sadie was so offended that she prepared a rival spread, inviting the visiting church people to walk the few blocks to our house and dine with her instead.”
Robinson provides insights into his own educational opportunities, career successes and achievements, and how he navigated his calling to journalism. Some of the challenges associated with being a Black journalist 50 years ago are unfortunately being witnessed again today – a throughline in“ Freedom Lost, Freedom Won.”
Reflecting on the ongoing civil rights fights and hostility towards the gains
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