Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Group meeting: Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at my house
Dessert: Grasshopper pie (for St. Patrick's Day!)
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd was my book group pick discussed in March. Although not planned, it was the perfect selection for National Women's History Month.
I chose this book after reading an article by Marion Winic (Newsday) in the Wisconsin State Journal in February, 2014. Sue Monk Kidd wrote The Secret Life of Bees, one of my favorite books, so I was sure to want to read this one. But the real draw to The Invention of Wings was that it is a fictional account of the Grimké sisters of South Carolina in the early 19th century. They were in fact the subjects of an historical account written by Gerda Learner and published in 1967: The Grimké Sisters of South Carolina; Rebels Against Slavery.
Gerda Learner was a professor in the Women's Studies program at the University of Wisconsin. I knew of her and sat in on some of her lectures before she retired. They were the most eye-opening and moving lectures I have ever attended. The class would on occasion applaud the presentation. It was there that I first learned of the Grimkés, their abolitionist activism AND their inadvertent shift to feminist thinking. They pre-date the Seneca Falls Convention and Susan B. Anthony.
And, how did Sue Monk Kidd come to write this book? She saw Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party in 2007 in Brooklyn and noticed the names of Sarah and Angelina Grimké, sisters from Charleston, South Carolina inscribed on tiles on the floor of the exhibit. Kidd lived in Charleston and had never heard of the Grimké sisters. How could that be? She started to do research that included Gerda Learner's primary source research.
I, too, saw The Dinner Party, but I saw it in the mid-1970s. I traveled with other UW Library School students to Chicago to see the very controversial installation. That was a long time ago and I don't remember the names inscribed on the tiles. I do remember the place settings and the incredible feeling of sisterhood and history.
What strikes me as most important and significant about The Invention of Wings and the way it came to be written is that it illustrates that our history is complex and is often pushed aside. Women have done incredible things. But how do we know it? I remember being at a concert by "Sweet Honey in the Rock" in Carnegie Hall (probably in the 80's). I was in awe and feeling a little out of place. At one point they spoke directly to the African Americans in the audience and said: "This is your history. You are not born knowing it. You have to learn it."
In preparing for book group I gathered The Gerda Learner book on the Grimkes, a couple books on The Dinner Party, a couple African-American quilt books, an African folk tale, and various reviews and articles. I was lead to these sources in part by the author's notes at the end of the book. She very clearly explains her motivations and what is fact and what is fiction in The Invention of Wings.
I thank Sue Monk Kidd for bringing back the story of Sarah and Angelina Grimké and reminding me to keep reading and learning and sharing with others.
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