I Cannot Tell A Lie

<p><strong>THE FIRST PRESIDENT</strong><br />Documented national history states that the nation's first president had no children. But the oral history of the descendants of this African American family tells a different story.</p><p> </p><p><strong>THE CONTROVERSY</strong><br />Many people will believe the story of George Washington fathering a slave son. Others will find it difficult if not impossible to believe that Washington had an intimate relationship with a slave named Venus. Their fateful union during the era of antebellum slavery produced a son West Ford.</p><p><strong>THE SECRET</strong><br />As time and space distanced the Ford family from its beginnings at Mount Vernon each generation continued to walk a precarious line bearing the weight of their heritage and battling issues of skin color status and identity. Linda Allen Bryant a descendant of West Ford pens her family's narrative history in <em>I Cannot Tell a Lie</em>. Their genealogy is rich in adventure love tragedy sacrifice and courage-a story that will haunt you long after you turn the last page.</p>