He Included Me

September 15, 1989
Now in her 80s, Rice has spent her life in the deep South. As a girl, she lived in small rural towns or on farms, as her father worked as an itinerant AME minister. As an adult, Rice labored at the jobs available in the South to a black woman with some education: as a teacher in segregated schools; as a domestic in white households; as a worker on an airforce base during World War II. This oral history, artfully edited by Louise Westling, allows Rice to speak for herself, describing life in rural Alabama, her life as a school teacher, her two failed marriages, and, finally, the happiness she achieved with her third husband. Viewing her life with a sharp intelligence, always frank, compassionate, and informed by a deep religious faith, Rice offers an autobiography that often reads with the narrative sweep of a novel. For both larger public libraries and history and African-American collections in academic libraries.-- Ann H. Sullivan, Tompkins-Cortland Community Coll., Dryden, N.Y.

Copyright 1989 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 1989
In homespun words, strong-minded Rice, born in 1909 in rural Alabama, bears witness to her hard life as a black woman. Warm and pleasantly meandering, this oral autobiography tells of her large, devoutly religious family, her schooling, marriages, work as a maid in the homes of whites in Florida and later as a teacher: ``Just to think that from my grandfather not being able to read or write, or his wife either, and coming up from slavery, all this family grew.'' Rice's comments on social and racial issues, especially when based directly on her experiences as an employee of white families, are instructive; sensitive yet objective, she proves able to reckon with differences, not just take sides. She seems always to say exactly what she means. With the aid of Westling ( Sacred Groves and Ravaged Gardens ), Rice makes a welcome contribution to the informal history of black Americans.