Daisy Turner's kin: an African American family saga

A daughter of freed African American slaves, Daisy Turner became a living repository of history.

The family narrative entrusted to her - "a well-polished artifact, an heirloom that had been carefully preserved" - began among the Yoruba in West Africa and continued with her own century and more of life.

In 1983, folklorist Jane Beck began a series of interviews with Turner, then 100 years old and still relating four generations of oral history.

Beck uses Turner's storytelling to build the Turner family saga, using at its foundation the oft-repeated touchstone stories at the heart of their experiences.