Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family’s Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile High

by Polly E. Bugros McLean

In 1918 Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Jones received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, becoming its first female African American graduate (though she was not allowed to "walk" at graduation, nor is she pictured in the 1918 CU yearbook). In Remembering Lucile , author Polly McLean depicts the rise of the African American middle class through the historical journey of Lucile and her family from slavery in northern Virginia to life in the American West, using their personal story as a lens through which to examine the greater experience of middle-class Blacks in the early twentieth century.
 
The first-born daughter of emancipated slaves, Lucile refused to be defined by the racist and sexist climate of her times, settling on a career path in teaching that required great courage in the face of pernicious Jim Crow laws. Embracing her sister’s dream for higher education and W. E. B. Du Bois’s ideology, she placed education and intelligence at the forefront of her life, teaching in places where she could most benefit African American students. Over her 105 years she was an eyewitness to spectacular, inspiring, and tragic moments in American history, including horrific lynchings and systemic racism in housing and business opportunities, as well as the success of women's suffrage and Black-owned businesses and educational institutions.
 
Remembering Lucile employs a unique blend of Black feminist historiography and wider discussions of race, gender, class, religion, politics, and education to illuminate major events in African American history and culture, as well as the history of the University of Colorado and its relationship to Black students and alumni, as it has evolved from institutional racism to welcoming acceptance. This extensive biography paints a vivid picture of a strong, extraordinary Black woman who witnessed an extraordinary time in America and rectifies her omission from CU’s institutional history. The book fills an important gap in the literature of the history of Blacks in the Rocky Mountain region and will be of significance to anyone interested in American history.

286 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2018

Reviews

[Chelsea Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was SUCH a great book! It's such an important story, both in Colorado history, and just as an example of how Black people have been overlooked and ignored in so many ways. I already knew the basics of Lucile's story because I went to a talk by the author, but this book delves into her family history and so many other aspects that I didn't expect it to. But it was all really valuable - I thought it was important and insightful to learn about the story of her parents, who were born into slavery, and how they established a life for themselves after slavery was abolished. The author does a great job of bringing in modern psychology and research to explain what Lucile and her family might have been thinking and going through during their experiences, without editorializing too much. My main problem was the epilogue - it didn't even focus on Lucile that much, but mainly on the double suicide of her nieces? I understand that this should be in the book, but it seemed like such an unnecessarily dark note to end the whole thing on.

[Sean Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book. True story of one pioneer. But, also a lot of details about a time and group I don't know much about. The transition from a slave family to be one of the early settlers in Denver and continuing to be a middle class black family. The ups and downs and challenges and wanderings of the main character as she goes to college, does a career in multiple parts of the country and deals with the same challenges that exist today and unique challenges due to the time and her race. I am glad it was written by a black woman to have more of her perspective. I feel tied to the subject because I live near her family home in Denver and lived on the same street corner in Boulder; but think her story is useful to everyone. I really like the honesty, nothing is sugar coated. It is not a brutish life, more of a regular person, but she still seems extra ordinary.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thoroughly researched book tells the story of the resolute and determined Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Jones, but also her equally determined family, beginning with her enslaved and eventually emancipated parents on a plantation in Virginia. Professor McLean gives us a sweeping history of Black Americans’ struggle for independent existence from before the Civil War to the 21st century.

[Michelle Schulten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read it again

This book opened up so much history for me. I live in the Denver area, am a fifth generation native, taught school, have lived and researched history since elementary school, and I found so much I didn't know!