Restoring the Family Tree

In a distant, hazy memories, Elizabeth could remember her grandfather reconstructing the family tree. It was a point of pride to the old man, showing how far the Castle family had lived in America.

But history could also be selective, as Elizabeth was learning. Delilah and Debbie and Cassandra had been scrubbed from the family tree. Scrubbed from history. Scrubbed from any difficult explanation. All because of the alpha male, the progenitor, Samson.

It'd been a chore to track everyone down. The Joneses of South Carolina at least were local. Their blood could be found all over, from the Kings to the Jeffersons. All hardy Black stock to boot.

The Freemans were more diffuse, however. Chicago, Detroit, even Africa. And in each case, her distant cousins were as Black as the Joneses. As if the white Castle were the only white dalliance. But what to do now?