“Swift Currents”
is a truly engrossing historical novel
that follows the trials and tribulations of a small family
as they are freed from slavery in the South in 1861.
A great story
of Civil War history and The Reconstruction
in Beaufort, South Carolina.
Swift Currents is a historical novel based on actual events from 1861 to 1863.
It describes the transition from bondage to freedom through the lens of Callie and her two brothers.
As they and others pursue education, work for wages, fight for freedom, and become landowners, their lives intersect with civilian and military authorities.
Callie’s story seeks to help the nation come to terms with its racial history and serves to provide a greater understanding of shared stories, thus lessening the inherited prejudice of generations.
Map of Beaufort, SC region
November 7, 1861
Courtesy of Beaufort District Collection,
Beaufort County Library, Beaufort, South Carolina.
The cover is an original painting that beautifully depicts the day of the Union attack at Port Royal Sound.
The artist, Jennifer Ojulewa, wishes to credit her young models who helped her portray the action
— Tamashia, Leonard, and Tyrone.
Jennifer Ojulewa can be contacted at ArtSeaSpirit.com
Twenty-three year old Callie has lived in bondage at Oakheart Plantation since her birth. She has become a valuable asset to her cruel master, Daniel Bowen, but Callie, her two brothers, and her young daughter struggle to cope with the outrages of enslavement. Change occurs suddenly on November 7, 1861, when the Union Navy attacks Port Royal Sound in South Carolina. Slavery ends across the surrounding sea islands after the planters flee. Ten thousand newly freed people, like Callie and her family, begin life under the authority of the US government. A historical novel based on actual events from 1861 to 1863, Swift Currents describes the slaves’ transition from bondage to freedom through the lens of Callie and her two brothers. As they and others pursue education, work for wages, fight for freedom, and become landowners, their lives intersect with civilian and military authorities. Callie’s story seeks to help the nation come to terms with its racial history and serves to provide a greater understanding of shared stories, thus lessening the inherited prejudice of generations. Grim weaves true historical figures into the storyline, including Clara Barton, Laura Towne, Harriet Tubman, Charlotte Forten, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Robert Smalls.
Osalami "Osha" Lamoke provided Gullah translations
to the dialog in “Swift Currents”
— considered by cultural experts to be
among the best written Gullah on record.
We Acknowledge Her Contribution
