Shall We Gather at the River

This Romeo/Juliet story set in the mountains of Virginia in the 1870sdepicts a life and time largely forgotten now. Jimmie Sue a white farm boyand Madeleen a colored sharecropper girl although mutually attracted toeach other must deal with a greater obstacle than having different familynames such as the Capulets and Montagues in Shakespeare. Jimmie Suewas not so interested in a sheet of paper to certify their relationship butMadeleen would have no part of an arrangement that was not blessed ofthe Lord.Their shared experiences in the fields the churches the baptismcreek give them many contact opportunities which are duly celebratedyet constantly thwarted.Although the focus is on these two teenagers the story gives someinsight into the post-civil war racial relationships in the mountains... quitedifferent from the more normally accepted tales of the plantations.