Bernette Sherman Books and Life Craft Tools

From Loss to Legacy – The Story of Ervin James matters

Inspired by Ervin James who lived in the 1800s.

(See Amazon Reviews)
Ervin James overcame great odds, pain, loss, and suffering to leave a legacy when he managed to purchase over 100 acres of land and found a community for freed blacks in 1870. It’s a story of hope, love, and the family we make – including the unexpected. Ervin begins his journey as a slave walking from Virginia to South Carolina to stand in a slave market with his mother.

Their lives are a reflection of the many lives lived and lost during slavery in the United States. However, this story is also of the strength and resilience of those who lived through these times and continue to live through their descendants today.

The story takes readers through Ervin’s life beginning in childhood in 1815 until the purchase of land made in December 1870. Ervin’s story is told against the backdrop of a pre-civil-war era and then through it, gracefully incorporating history and culture into the experience of reading about his life.

The Story of Ervin James is a carefully crafted, yet fictionalized, full length historical novel inspired by the life of Ervin James, a Black man and slave, who lived in the 1800s. It is written by his great-great-great granddaughter.

 

 

Reviews
Sherman is especially skilled at building bigger-picture thinking between characters that come to life in their conversations as they age and adapt to new times: “Nora wrap her fingers round mine after dinner and look me straight in the eye. She told me, We deserve this and we done worked hard for it all our lives. Well we ain’t getting no younger. Our time done passed, I sighed heavy like cuz seem like wasn’t nobody thinking bout letting no negro buy land in them parts. No, Ervin. Our sons and daughters deserve it and they sons and daughters. It ain’t about us no more Ervin. You right. We getting old. We gotta do this for them. If we don’t do it who else gonna do it? Who else can do it?”

The result is a vivid story of slavery’s impact, social changes, and one family’s legacy that succeeds in changing the hearts, minds, and experiences of those who follow generations later.

Sherman has created a vivid story of her ancestor’s growth and world. It’s a story that needs to be shared in Black communities and families around the country, teaching not just about the past, but approaches to adversity, survival, and growth that offer their own legacy to future generations.

Very highly recommended, it’s the lingo and sentiments of the times that make The Story of Ervin James remarkable, and a standout.
– D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

 

A complex and harrowing historical novel based on one Black man’s journey from slavery to freedom

Bernette Sherman imagines the life of her great-great-great-grandfather Ervin James through his struggles as an enslaved Black man in the early 1800s and the frustration and anger of a limited freedom in the North. Sherman’s novel is a scalding condemnation of America’s very real and horrific history as well as the insidious systems that were to follow including redlining, Jim Crow, and black codes.

While a deep criticism of America’s corrupt enterprise, the novel is still one of hope and triumph, because in spite of tragedy, Ervin James is still a figure who overcomes an impossible institution that aimed to cause his and his ancestors’ destruction.

Bernette Sherman has crafted a powerful historical novel that demands more from America, while still commenting on the country’s possibilities. It’s a passionate narrative of a man who wants more for himself and more for his children, and it confronts injustice and racist prejudices head-on, offering us insight into the implications of our present.

The Story of Ervin James is poignant, complex, and necessary, and I recommend it to all those who are ready to spark change.

-Samantha Hui, Independent Book Review