Black Cherokee

Who Are You Supposed to Be? At its heart, “Black Cherokee” is the story of Ophelia Blue Rivers’s struggle for identity. Her grandmother, Grandma Blue, a descendant of the Cherokee Freedmen, raised Ophelia in a secluded riverside home, sheltering her from a world that struggled with her mixed heritage......more

I found BLACK CHEROKEE by Antonio Michael Downing quite an emotional novel! It’s about a young girl, Ophelia, who is half Black and half Cherokee, and grows up without her parents. She’s raised by her grandmother and her aunt. There’s one really sad scene where she’s bullied in school and a couple m......more

Ophelia Blue Rivers is a young mixed race girl growing up in a secluded cabin on the banks of the River Etsi outside a town in South Carolina that had once been a Cherokee reservation. Ophelia lives with her Grandma Blue, a descendent of Cherokee Freedmen, who tells her granddaughter that she's "hal......more

Black Cherokee tells the story of Ophelia—half Black, half Cherokee—raised by her grandmother (also named Ophelia) on the banks of the River Etsi. As a descendant of the Cherokee Freedmen, (Black people formerly enslaved by wealthy southern Cherokee) Ophelia struggles to understand her place in the......more

Black Cherokee by Antonio Michael Downing Publication Date: August 19/25 This is an unforgettable coming of age story centred on Ophelia, a Black Cherokee girl, raised by her loving but formidable Black grandmother in a tight knit Cherokee community. As Ophelia struggles to navigate the complexities......more