Winners

1958Nonfiction

White Mother

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Book Co.

Jessie B. Sams

  • Born: 1909

 Into the lives of two ragged little Negro girls came an angel—a white angel. So it seemed to Veanie and Mingie Bennett, seven-year-old twins in a Florida town, half-savage, motherless, caring for their paralyzed and dying father. Alone they fought for their lives, stole food, and struggled against a hostile world. Then chance led them to the white side of town and the door of Mrs. Rossie Lee. It proved to be the door to a new life.

This is a true story. Its author, Mrs. Jessie Bennett Sams, was one of the twins—Veanie Bennett. Today Mrs. Sams is a college graduate and a schoolteacher. Full of dramatic incident including a hurricane and lynching—as well as deep affection, White Mother is an unusual, colorfully told true tale that transcends the barriers of racial prejudice. It is the story of the power of love, one that will renew your faith in the inherent goodness of human nature.