Featured Photograph: The book Cherie Quarters: The Place and the People That Inspired Ernest J. Gaines, by Louisiana author Ruth Laney, will be released on October 19, 2022. (Book cover photograph by Philip Gould.)
The book Cherie Quarters: The Place and the People That Inspired Ernest J. Gaines by Louisiana author Ruth Laney is set to be released on October 19, 2022. Published by Louisiana State University Press, the 304-page book is available for purchase now through LSU Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other book outlets.
About the Book
According to information released by the publisher, Cherie Quarters combines personal interviews, biography, and social history to tell the story of a plantation quarter and its most famous resident, renowned Louisiana writer and Pulitzer Prize nominee Ernest J. Gaines. In clear and vivid prose, this original and vital book illuminates the birthplace of a preeminent Black author and the lives of the people who inspired his work.
Before he became an award-winning writer, Gaines was the son of sharecroppers in Cherie Quarters, a small Black community in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. Drawing on decades of interviews and archival research, Ruth Laney explores the lives and histories of the families, both kin and not, who lived in a place where “everybody was everybody’s child.” Built as slave cabins for the nearby River Lake Plantation in the 1840s, the houses of Cherie Quarters were cold in winter, hot in summer, filled with mosquitoes, and overflowing with people. Even so, the residents made these houses into homes. Laney describes aspects of the lives of those people.
The twenty-first century saw the demise of Cherie Quarters. Like many landmarks of Black American life and history, the few remaining structures were razed or fell into ruin. Laney recounts the ultimately unsuccessful efforts of a small, dedicated group to preserve the vestiges of the community―two slave cabins, the church/schoolhouse, and a shed. Engaging and rich in detail, Cherie Quarters highlights the voices of those who called this special place home and shares the story of a lost way of life in South Louisiana.
About the Author
Ruth Laney has written about Ernest Gaines for the Southern Review, Louisiana Life, Louisiana Cultural Vistas, Country Roads, Emerge, The Root, and other publications. She wrote and coproduced the television documentary Ernest J. Gaines: Louisiana Stories. The work on the documentary sparked her interest in Cherie Quarters, leading to slide lectures at the Louisiana State Archives and other venues. She is a member of the Authors Guild, American Society of Journalists and Authors, and Biographers International Organization.
Ruth Laney will be a featured author at the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, October 29, 2022. She will be presenting about her book Cherie Quarters: Their daily lives―work, food, entertainment, religion, and education. She also expands her focus in the book to the white families who built River Lake Plantation, enslaved its people, and later directed the lives of its Black sharecroppers.Her presentation is from 2:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the State Capitol, House Committee Room 2.
