Quantum Leaps in Princeton’s Place
by
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Being at the right place at the right time, helped me to write a novel. As a journalist, I wanted to document the lives of some of the most elderly people living in Princeton, New Jersey during the time my children attended Princeton Schools there. I felt that there must be such a wealth of knowledge in the community and University. I wanted to find out how much knowledge existed among the elderly.
I looked up the oldest living man and woman in Princeton at the time. I got in touch with them and asked them for an interview. The woman was 100-years old. The man was 103. I started to document their lives. Their interviews took several months. What was it like to live 100 years ago in Princeton? There were so many famous people here: Albert Einstein and Paul Robeson. During the six months of interviews, my daughter had a play date with a new girl who attended her school. I traveled the road looking for the number on the house. We found ourselves driving down the driveway that led to a mansion. I asked my seven year-old daughter, Michaela, “Are you sure your friend lives here?” And of course, she would not know. She was seven and this was the first time at the house.
We got out of the car and walked to the front door. Michaela rang the bell. When the door opened, her friend appeared with her mother.
The home was beautiful and large. They had just moved in and I could see the boxes piled within the first parlor. The mansion was old. She told me that it used to be a plantation house on many acres before it was later subdivided.
We sat down for tea while our children ran upstairs to play. “After tea, I want to give you a tour of the house,” she told me, “It’s historical. It has four floors with the top floors which used to be use as slave or maid quarters. Look what we found here.”
She pulled out three boxes of old black and white photos from the early 1900's. They were pictures of the mansion when it was first built and the first owners. It was amazing to see. She then handed me a red journal.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s a journal from Daisy. She was the first owner. She talks about how it was back then. She was an aristocrat. Knew a lot of famous people.”
I started to read and read. And it hit me. I had been interviewing the oldest African-Americans in the town. Was it possible? Were they here? So, I asked if she would not mind me borrowing the journal to read. “I promise. I’ll bring it back tomorrow.”
When I got home, I immediately called the people I was interviewing. He did not know anything about the house, but she did. She grew up in the house and served as a maid.
When I returned to the house with the journal the next day, I told them what I found out. They told me to photocopy the journal. They said I could come at any time and write the novel in their house. I knew I had to write about this. I was in the right place at the right time. Synchronicity - A quantum leap in Einstein’s town!
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About the Book
Award-winning journalist, Dr. Donna Clovis, recounts the stories of Princeton, New Jersey, in the early 1900s through the late 1950s through the eyes of two of the oldest citizens by means of interviews, diaries, and articles. The synchronicity of being at the right place at the right time for the interviews, locations, and journals plays a major role in the construction of the book.
KIRKUS REVIEW
In her latest novel, Clovis (Another SAT, 2005, etc.( depicts a century of change in the one-time home of Albert Einstein.
Princeton, New Jersey, a tree-lined town dominated by its famous university, contains many magnificent homes—including the Rosedale House, which serves as the focal point of this book. Its residents witness many changes in the town, starting in the early 1900s. Those residents include Ida, an African-American girl who yearns to break away from Carnethia, her suffocating mother; Daisy, the white mistress of the house; her husband, Barker; a rebellious African-American girl named Beatrice; and Tina, who dreams of success as a singer. As they go about their lives, growing and changing, Princeton grows and changes as well; horse-drawn vehicles give way to automobiles, and older homes and buildings are torn down and replaced by modern hotels, stores, and landmarks such as Palmer Square. At the center of everything is the Rosedale House, the one constant in a sea of change. The writing throughout is strong, with frequent use of simile ("They strolled slowly from Nassau Street to the Rosedale house, like a dark sea creeping its way along a pale, sandy beach"). Clovis begins the book with observations about how she came to write it through a happy accident of circumstances. She effectively uses a large, ever-changing cast of characters, weaving them in and out of the story in various locales, but never letting the focus wander from Princeton and the theme of time's passage. It also depicts the casual and violent racism of American society in the early-to mid-1900s, such as when Beatrice is raped by a white man, or when Daisy attempts to help an African-American family move into another town's white neighborhood. Even the chapter about Einstein, a legendary character in Princeton for his violin playing and absent-minded wanderings, shows the otherwise open-minded community's surprising bigotry. Given the recent, racially charged events in Ferguson, Missouri, and other places, Clovis' version of Princeton seems like a microcosm of America.
An engaging look at the evolution of a town, its people, and its attitudes.
About the Author
Dr. Donna L. Clovis is a graduate of Columbia University in New York City in journalism and the humanities. She has won a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize and a first-place feature-writing award for the National Association of Black Journalists. Dr. Clovis has also won two journalism fellowships: the McCloy Fellowship from the American Council on Germany and Harvard University and a Prudential Fellowship from Columbia University. She is also the Albert Einstein Education Award winner for achievements that produce a significant improved educational environment from the governor of New Jersey.
Dr. Clovis is interested in documentary work and storytelling that comes from this type of journalism. She especially loves talking with older people, to hear about their lives. This is the basis of her story and the synchronicity that occurred as she gathered the information through interviews and researching articles. It is called being in the right place at the right time. Dr. Clovis lives in the Princeton Junction area and loves to travel to other countries to learn more about people and culture.