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I Am Nobody's Slave

How Uncovering My Family's History Set Me Free

by Lee Hawkins

Narrator Lee Hawkins

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Length 14 hours 44 minutes

Language English

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Summary
About the author
About the narrator

A 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Wall Street Journal writer exhaustively examines his family’s legacy of post-enslavement trauma and resilience, in this riveting memoir—a soulful, shocking, and spellbinding read that blends the raw power of Natasha Tretheway’s Memorial Drive and the insights of Clint Smith’s How the Word is Passed.

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.

Biography & Memoir History Nonfiction Social Science

Lee Hawkins was a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist as a lead reporter on a series about the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 at the Wall Street Journal, where he worked for nineteen years. He has received several fellowships, including The Carter Center’s Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, the Alicia Patterson Foundation Journalism Fellowship, the O’Brien Fellowship for Public Service Journalism, the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism National Fellowship for reporting on child well-being. Hawkins is a five-time winner of the National Association of Black Journalists’ “Salute to Excellence” Award. He is the creator and host of the podcast “What Happened in Alabama?” and lives in New York City.

He is currently a 2023-2024 Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism at The Carter Center and was named the Josephine Albright Fellow by the 2024 Alicia Patterson Foundation Journalism Fellowship. Additionally, Mr. Hawkins has been recognized as a 2022-23 O’Brien Fellow for Public Service Journalism at Marquette University. Prior to these roles, he served for 19 years at the Wall Street Journal as a Reporter/On-Air Host and News Editor. His coverage there included education and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on children and families. He was notably a lead reporter on a Wall Street Journal team that received the 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist honors in the Explanatory category for their coverage of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. Mr. Hawkins’s co-authored story focused on its intergenerational impact in “The Dreams of Jack and Daisy Scott.”