FORBIDDEN FRUIT
Love Stories from the Underground
by Betty DeRamus
Review by Jewel Kinch

The horrors, degradation and dehumanization of slavery have always been and will always remain foremost in our minds. Within that same context, Forbidden Fruit brings to us an aspect of love and family that has not been given much, if any light. We can only marvel at and be inspired by the unprecedented stories from the Underground Railroad. Love in the best of circumstances can be a road of trial and compromise. DeRamus takes us through an amazing series of love stories, which make any relationship trials today look like a stroll down 125th Street. The stories bring a whole new meaning to the depth and breadth of sharing your life with a chosen one, of determination, longing and desire, companionship, of being husband and wife.

Faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, the men and women portrayed in this book had little hope of maintaining any type of relationship, let alone marriage, but again and again their love triumphed the chattels of slavery. Reading these stories gives new significance to words like commitment, dedication and love.

DeRamus weaves each story skillfully, taking us from the couples’ first meeting, through their arduous journey of escape from the plantations and finally to their search for a new life. The stories are heart-wrenching, inspirational and admirable. While fighting for their freedom as human beings, these couples also fought for the freedom to love, to cherish one another and to build a family.

Imagine the courage and determination it took for Lear Green, a young house slave, to squeeze herself into a wooden chest, and for eighteen hours endure a hellish journey in order to join the man she intended to marry, William Adams. Or the incredible story of Little John, who, after suffering under the punishment of 500 lashes, beaten steadily for three months thereafter and jailed, escaped again, only to wait in the woods for his wife to heal. During their arduous journey, Little John carried his wife on his back after she collapsed from exhaustion and on another leg, swam across the Ohio Bottoms, pushing his wife on a log before him to freedom.

There were sometimes elements of frustration as DeRamus veered off into a discussion of a town’s development or some other item of historical significance, for I was impatient to continue devouring the astounding stories of love. But in taking us through these historical items, the author illustrates how communities took shape and were formed with the same indomitable spirit.

Not limiting her tales to just couples of African descent, the author also chronicles those love trials of interracial couples, taking us on a journey of the laws and situations throughout the country that attempted to define and control these relationships.

DeRamus has done justice to a part of history that is little known, but needs to be recognized as the rebuilding of the African-American family foundation. It also reminds us how blessed we are to be able to choose and love our significant other with abandon.