"If Sons, Then Heirs" by Lorene Cary is an interesting novel which explores complicated issues of love, family and property. The story focuses on Alonzo Rayne who was abandoned as a child by his mother Jewel who sent him to live with his grandmother Selma in South Carolina, and she never returned to get him. The book opens with Jewel observing Rayne (whom she calls Lonnie) from a distance on the street outside his home in Philadelphia where he now lives as an adult as he prepares to travel back to South Carolina to visit Selma. Rayne, persuaded by his girlfriend Lillie, wrote a letter to Jewel hoping to reconnect with his mother.
The book journeys north from Philadelphia to rural South Carolina where Selma thrusts upon Rayne the responsibility of saving the "heir property" that her husband, King - the family partriarch, worked so hard to obtain for his family. In fact, as the story unfolds it is discovered that King died trying to preserve the land for his heirs, the Needham family. The book is well written and the characters are engaging, however, the author sometimes doesn't dig deep enough to address the complex issues raised in the book. For example, when Rayne reunites with his mother, it lacks the emotion that you would expect to surface -- issues of guilt, abandonment, loss, anger, uncertainty, insecurity, love -- and they seem to put it all behind them with his mother simply stating she did not leave him because he was bad, but because she was a bad mother and Rayne accepting it. I agree it was great that he was able to forgive and move forward in rebuilding the relationship, but I think more time could have been devoted to flushing out this important detail to the story. The book has a happy ending where Rayne is able to reunite the Needham family, start his own family, and save the land for heirs to come.
What I found fascinating about the book was the issue of "heir property" which is what property is called when the property owner dies without having a will, and the law mandates that the property is divided among all his or her heirs. The property is passed down from one generation to the next without a will. I also thought the book did not deal realistically with the major problems that can occur with heir property. It touched upon them, but the characters were able to resolve it with a few phone calls and a family meeting with select members designated as the family council. In most cases, matters involving property are not so easily resolved. Some of the problems with heir property are that family members do not live on the land; heirs do not know each other; they do not know how to locate each other; many heirs have no connection to the land; and some want to keep it while others want to sell it. However, heir property cannot be sold unless there is unanimous consent.
Another interesting fact about heir property which many articles have cited is that it is the leading cause of loss of black land ownership in the United States. According to US Agriculture Census data, black farmland ownership has declined from15 million acres in 1910 to 2.4 million acres in 1997. Blacks have lost land because it is heir property, and with each generation there are more heirs to share the land, the land is not managed or cared for, it may become lost by failure to pay taxes, or simply no one has an interest in preserving the land as a family legacy.
Land ownership has always been important to Americans. It equates a sense of pride, importance and belonging. Historically it has been important to blacks as we had to struggle, fight and sometimes die (as the patriarch in the book did) to maintain the land and a home for our families. Today, there are several organizations working to combat the rapid decline of black land ownership. To name a few: Heir's Property Retention Coalition; Black Family Land Trust; and the Center for Heir's Property Preservation.
While the Needham's story ends, the book leaves readers with the curiosity to explore their own family's legacy and maybe embark on a journey to discover or recover their own heir property.
