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    Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black
    Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black
    Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black
    Audiobook13 hours

    Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black

    Written by Chris Tomlinson

    Narrated by David Drummond

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Journalist Chris Tomlinson grew up hearing stories about his family's abandoned cotton plantation in Falls County, Texas. Most of the tales lionized his white ancestors for pioneering along the Brazos River. His grandfather often said the family's slaves loved them so much that they also took Tomlinson as their last name.

    LaDainian Tomlinson, football great and former running back for the San Diego Chargers, spent part of his childhood playing on the same land that his black ancestors had worked as slaves. As a child, LaDainian believed that the Hill was named after his family. Not until he was old enough to read a historical plaque did he realize that the Hill was named for his ancestor's slaveholders.

    A masterpiece of authentic American history, Tomlinson Hill traces the true and very revealing story of these two families. From the beginning in 1854-when the first Tomlinson, a white woman, arrived-to 2007, when the last Tomlinson, LaDainian's father, left, the book unflinchingly explores the history of race and bigotry in Texas. Along the way, it also manages to disclose a great many untruths that are latent in the unsettling and complex story of America.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 8, 2014
    ISBN9781494574512
    Author

    Chris Tomlinson

    CHRIS TOMLINSON grew up in Dallas and became a reporter in 1994 covering the end of Apartheid in South Africa. He has reported from 50 countries and nine war zones, including Rwanda, Somalia, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq. He now lives in Austin with his wife Shalini Ramanathan and writes for The Houston Chronicle.

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    Reviews for Tomlinson Hill

    3.5/5

    13 ratings5 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Originally published in 2014.I thought this would be more of a personal history type of read. But, it quickly turned political and more about racism. I did not enjoy this at all. It was long and dry reading.
    • 4/5
      This was a very interesting read, however it was not the read I was led to believe it was going to be. Labelled the story of "two families who share the Tomlinson name-one White, one Black" "who trace their ancestry to the same Texas slave plantation", I was expecting a more intimate recounting of history. Instead, the author presents a scholarly book on the history of slavery, homesteading, civil rights and his own family in Marlin, Texas.

      Now this does not mean it was not a great read, because it was. The author was fortunate in that there already existed books documenting the history of his family's settlement in Marlin, including letters written by his ancestors. James Kendrick Tomlinson followed his sister Susan Tomlinson Jones and brother-in-law Churchill Jones from Alabama plantations to Falls County, Texas 1849. There they established cotton plantations, and continued the slave traditions they had practiced in Alabama.

      The book gives us a look into the day-to-day lives on the plantations based on information gained from census reports, letters, and other historical documents. There is information on the legal and practical issues surrounding slavery at the time. What there isn't is the emotional descriptions of abuse, cruelty, etc that we are accustomed to reading in books concerning slavery. This is a rather dispassionate accounting. The book gives rather long coverage to the Civil War as it took place in Texas, taking us away from the plantation and focusing mostly on the White family, Again the information is interesting but moves the focus away from the main premise.

      There is information on the KKK in Texas, especially in Dallas, and the author struggles with his belief that his grandfather and great grandfather were probably involved in the organizations doings. Up until this point the personal info on the Black Tomlinson families is scanty and mostly limited to who lived where, how they were employed, what they owned, who married whom, etc. The family did not seem to pass down stories of their slavery experiences.

      My least favorite part of the book was the author's own recounting. After being immersed in history I did not really care about his parents lives, which seemed a bit sordid and sad. His own experiences as a foreign reporter, his failed first marriage, even his High School experiences did not interest me at all. I was much more interested in LaDainian Tomlinson's (yes, the NFL player) story, as it did relate to the issues of racism and what the legacy of slavery did to his family.

      I read an ARC copy so I can only hope that the published copy will include;
      1) Family Trees
      2) Map/maps
      3) Photos - if any exist

      I found the family history very confusing as the families intersected and the first names were repeated often. I do not have a clue where Marlin, Texas is, how far it was in relation to other places mentioned, and would have liked to see maps/drawings of the original plantations and where the Hill actually is!

      I think this book stands as an strong accounting of the history of slavery and civil rights in Texas. It should be required reading in every Texas High School as part of their American History curriculum. The fact that this book narrows the focus to two families makes it more relatable to the average reader. It is a not a complete history of slavery, nor is it a complete history of either of the two Tomlinson families, but it is one important recounting of a very sad part of American History.
    • 3/5
      This book was simply too boring to finish. After listening to a detailed account of the civil war in Texas and conditions of freedman, I couldn't go on. Too many boring details.
    • 4/5
      Overall enjoyable book about the Tomlinsons; excellent narrator (audiobook). The story basically follows southern history and slavery and how the Tomlinsons weave in and out of that story; it's nice that Chris Tomlinson doesn't try to make his ancestors out to be better than they were... they were clear cut slave owners who thought slavery was OK, even though there really is no excuse for that. Story digresses now and then into areas that are a little too far from the mainline and I found myself wanting to "get back to the point" (mostly in his discussions of his current life) but overall he did a great job. Everyone has a story - this one happens to be good enough to learn about. Nothing stellar but a good overall book.
    • 4/5
      In the South, many families - the scions of slaveholders and descendants of the humans they once owned - share names. Chris Tomlinson, white, a former AP reporter, is one of the former. LT Tomlinson, black, and an acclaimed running back for the San Diego Chargers, is one of the latter. Chris Tomlinson's family history is set in Marlin, Texas. He takes pains to tell us that his Texas was the land of cotton, not the land of cowboys. The Tomlinsons were early settlers along the Brazos River, slave owners and Ku Klux Klan members. After the Civil War, Tomlinson slaves became sharecroppers, and life for the black tenant farmers changed very little until after Jim Crow was finally (for the most part) vanquished.This is a somewhat passionless book. Maybe after being a war reporter and burning out, Chris cannot really dig into the heart and soul of his own family. But all of the black Tomlinsons have the strongest ties to the land and to their kin, to being surrounded by loving family even in the most difficult financial hardships, and it is their support and their love for each other that shines so brightly through this epic story. There is also a PBS feature on Tomlinson Hill that I will be sure to watch.