LiveWorld Transcripts

Time Warner Bookmark presents

Author Breena Clarke
Discusses her latest novel

August 19, 1999

Breena Clarke, author of “River, Cross My Heart,” chats about her novel and how her mother’s stories of her own experiences growing up an African American in Georgetown inspired it.

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TimeWarner: Welcome to Time Warner Bookmark! Little, Brown and Company and The Talk City Network are proud to present our special guest for tonight, Breena Clarke, author of the lyrically written novel, "River, Cross My Heart." Breena's book tells the story of the Bynums, an African-American family living in Georgetown in the 1920's, and incorporates Black history into her characters and events. Welcome, Breena, Thanks for joining us!

Breena Clark: Well, it's great to be here.

InquiringMind: What is the theme of the novel?

Breena Clark: The theme of the novel is migration, the movement of people and ideas. Certainly on one level the Bynum family has migrated from a rural society to an urban one. They have struggled to adapt. Also, it looks at the way that ideas migrate from one area to another. There's also the theme of loss and how a family, a group of loved ones, adjusts to the loss of one of their beloved.

William: Why did you choose to locate the novel so specifically? Why Washington D.C. and why Georgetown?

Breena Clark: Because I grew up in Washington D.C. The novel is set in Georgetown because my mother and father both grew up there and they had very clear memories and recollections of that town in that era. It's no longer like that; that town only exists now in the memory of the people who lived there and moved out in the 50's. There's a very strong visceral attachment for them to that area. It's a little old fashioned to write a novel of place nowadays, but in a way I wanted to recreate Georgetown and sort of set it in literary stone; to make it definite as if you were there. When the last of the old Georgetowners goes, there will be a way to remember what it was like.

Ivan: What kinds of research did you do to create 1920's Georgetown?

Breena Clark: I talked to my folks, my uncle and my aunts, and I did oral histories with older former residents. I also was helped by Mr. Carter Bowman, an archivist at the Mount Zion United Methodist church, which figures into the story. It's a historical church, and they have photographs and records from that era that he shared with me. I also read everything I could about Georgetown, the African American community at that time, and Washington D.C. I also did a lot of exploring around the neighborhood.

Chet: Is the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church an actual historic institution?

Breena Clark: Yes, it is. It dates back from before the Civil War. I believe it was founded in the 1830's or 40's. It has a very long history. One of the interesting things about it is that it was literally built by the members of the congregation, many who worked during the day, and they came by in the evening and laid brick for the church. Sometimes they would bring lanterns. Several of the churches in Georgetown and Washington were built that way. Mt. Zion Church kept records of its early congregation, and about people who passed through. Those who passed through who were slaves and escaped North were coded as "gone away.” Some were listed as "taken away" and those were the folks who were recaptured. It is said that the Mt. Zion cemetery was a way station on the Underground Railroad.

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