Join us for the 2025 Leon County African American Read-In featuring children's books by African American authors. In celebration of Black History Month, this event brings the community together to build literacy skills by enjoying children’s stories read aloud by local speakers. Audience members will also be invited to read from a selection of books provided by the library.

We welcome you to our conversation with journalist and author Lee Hawkins as he talks to us about the examination of his family’s legacy of post-enslavement trauma and resilience in this riveting memoir, I Am Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free. 

I Am Nobody’s Slave tells the story of one Black family's pursuit of the American Dream through the impacts of systemic racism and racial violence. This book examines how trauma from enslavement and Jim Crow shaped their outlook on thriving in America, influenced each generation, and how they succeeded despite these challenges.

To their suburban Minnesotan neighbors, the Hawkinses were an ideal American family, embodying strength and success. However, behind closed doors, they faced the legacy of enslavement and apartheid. Lee Hawkins, Sr. often exhibited rage, leaving his children anxious and curious about his protective view of the world. Thirty years later, his son uncovered the reasons for his father’s anxiety and occasional violence. Through research, he discovered violent deaths in his family for every generation since slavery, mostly due to white-on-Black murders, and how white enslavers impacted the family’s customs.

Hawkins explores the role of racism-triggered childhood trauma and chronic stress in shortening his ancestors' lives, using genetic testing, reporting, and historical data to craft a moving family portrait. This book shows how genealogical research can educate and heal Americans of all races, revealing through their story the story of America—a journey of struggle, resilience, and the heavy cost of ultimate success.

Register for this virtual Author Talk at LeonCountyLibrary.org/AuthorTalks. 

View upcoming Author Talk programs and recordings of past talks at LeonCountyLibrary.org/AuthorTalks. 

The Author Talk series is sponsored by the Friends of the Leon County Public Library.

Explore Tallahassee's African American history during the Civil War and Reconstruction with the John G. Riley Center & Museum for African American History & Culture. Learn about Black soldiers from Leon County, the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation, the challenges of Reconstruction, and the rise of a Black professional class that shaped historic neighborhoods and contemporary society.