In the heartland of the United States 150 years ago, where racism and hatred were common, a community decided there could be a different America. Here schools and churches were completely integrated, blacks and whites intermarried, and power and wealth were shared by both races. But for this to happen, the town’s citizens had to keep secrets, break the laws of the world outside, and sweep aside fear and embrace hope.

 

In a historical-detective feat, Anna-Lisa Cox uncovers the heartening story of this community that took the road untaken. Beginning in the 1860s, the people of Covert, Michigan, attempted to do what then seemed impossible: love one’s neighbor—regardless of skin color—as oneself. Drawing on diaries, oral histories, and contemporary records, Cox gives us intimate glimpses of Covert’s people, from William Conner, the Civil War veteran who went on to become Michigan's first black justice of the peace, to Elizabeth Gillard, who, shipwrecked and washed onto Covert's shores, ultimately came to love the unusual community she would call home. In bringing these and other stories of this small town to light, Cox presents a vision of what our nation might have been, and could be.

Anna-Lisa Cox is the recipient of numerous awards for her research, including a National Endowment for the Humanities Younger Scholars Award, a Gilder Lehrman Fellowship, and a Pew Younger Scholars Fellowship.

“Readers of A Stronger Kinship will enjoy its prose, admire its characters, and very likely agree with Cox that the history of this small Michigan town teaches us about hope and the possibility for racial reconciliation in our own time.”—Frank Towers, Chicago Tribune

“An inspirational story of tolerance and decency.”—Diane Robert, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A gladdening, unsentimental chronicle of a Midwestern town that practiced racial equality against all late 19th-century odds.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A wonderful book. . . . Stories like this need to get around sooner than later. They are what will save this world.”—Pete Seeger

“This is a revealing look at a small town whose accomplishments have been virtually forgotten.”—Booklist

“Books about race in America are often disturbing and sometimes downright searing. Still, so many exist that they sometimes tend to blend together, canceling one another out. A Stronger Kinship is such an unusual book about race in America that it is unlikely to blend with anything else.”—Steve Weinberg, Dallas Morning News

“Cox’s optimism is infectious, and her recovery of Covert’s nearly lost history admirable.”—Publishers Weekly

“Most of the book deals with the background of the families who settled in Covert, both black and white, and Cox offers solid details. Their history is even more rare than the wake-robin and needs no embellishment. The story of Covert proves that not all tales of successful race relations in America have to be written as fiction.”—Greg Langley, The Advocate

2007 Michigan Notable Book, sponsored by the Library of Michigan, selection