It’s not hard to imagine the powerful desire of those previously enslaved to live on their own terms, directing their own destinies. However, the existence of a self-governing group of Black Americans while Civil War fires still smoldered is harder to fathom—and yet, the deeds and oral histories exist. Happy Land, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, intertwines fact and fiction to tell the story of freed men and women who left behind slavery’s chains for self-sufficiency, self-determination and a true community.
For her fourth novel, Perkins-Valdez extensively researched the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a community established along the border between North Carolina and South Carolina that was home to 200 or more formerly enslaved people. These men and women worked on land owned by a white widow and eventually bought a substantial number of acres. The inhabitants named a king and queen (in homage to their African heritage, Perkins-Valdez suggests), and formed a governing council. They built homes, sold lauded herbal remedies and thrived for several decades.
Perkins-Valdez takes the bare-bones historical narrative and puts imagined flesh to the queen, Luella Montgomery, and the women who are descended from her. Happy Land opens with Nikki visiting her grandmother Rita in North Carolina in the present day, then alternates between Nikki’s timeline and the 1870s, when Luella lived and ruled. As the novel unfolds, we learn Nikki’s family history and walk with her as she encounters family secrets. Perkins-Valdez paints stirring portraits of the strong-minded Luella and the women in her lineage: Nikki; her daughter, Shawnie; her mother, Lorelle; and her grandmother, Mother Rita, who is holding on to her portion of the Kingdom while facing eviction by a white family claiming rightful ownership.
Happy Land sheds light on the often deceitful ways developers took property from Black landowners during the 20th century. Though the plot occasionally gets bogged down in the author’s attempts to explain legalities and history, her characters are imbued with a captivating realism and vividness. These women are tenacious and industrious, thoughtful and curious, and their desire to preserve where they came from forms the heart of the novel. Through delving into her past, Nikki finds a deeper connection to her present and begins to chart a new, more fulfilling course. Just as her ancestors did.
