After 12 years of reporting on ethnic conflict as the Associated Press Bureau Chief in East Africa, native Texan Chris Tomlinson has returned to write a book about his family history. In 1865 James K. Tomlinson founded Tomlinson Hill, a slave plantation just outside of Marlin, Texas. Confronting the pride and shame he encounters tracing his roots, Chris begins to discover his real legacy in the region.
Loreane Tomlinson’s family has been in Marlin, Texas for generations. She left to give her son, LaDanian, an opportunity to play in the NFL. Now that he is a perennial NFL All-Star, she has returned to her hometown with a vision of civic improvement. Challenges await her as she discovers many attitudes remain unchanged since the time when her Tomlinson ancestors were slaves on Tomlinson Hill.
“ I think we have to own the fears that we have of each other, and then, in some practical way, some daily way, figure out how to see people differently than the way we were brought up to.”
