Dawson's Fall by Roxana Barry Robinson
Told through letters, diaries, and newspaper articles of her great-grandparents, Roxana Robinson’s ‘Dawson’s Fall’ revisits not only her family’s history and foundation in the United States, but a dark time in American history that begins with the Civil War. Frank Dawson is an adopted son of America. A young Englishman of principles, integrity, and the law, he moved to the United States as a young man to fight for the Confederacy. As an outsider, he was under the impression that the ongoing war in the United States was over states’ rights. He believed that the Union was trying to infringe on the Confederacies’ rights. Against the wishes of his parents, he changed his name to avoid bringing disgrace upon his family and left everything he ever knew and immigrated.
“Southerners resented interference by the North. They talked about their rights.”
Frank Dawson fought for the Confederacy yet after the war became progressively liberal, liberal in terms of early Jim Crow-era South Carolina. After the war he became the editor of the Charleston News and Courier, utilizing the newspaper to voice his opinion and that of the South. But as the South began to mourn the past more and more, Dawson’s anti-lynching, anti-violence stance begins to agitate readers and push them to a rival paper as he attempted to navigate the new landscape in the country. He has a strong sense of what he feels is right and makes that known. He lives by a code of honor that he does not ever stray from. Throughout the novel, that is made evident whether Dawson is fighting against the practice of lynching and duels or fighting in the war.
Although at times it was uncomfortable the way in which the relationships between white people and black people were portrayed and Frank Dawson’s liberalism, it was a fascinating novel that celebrates Robinson’s family history. The novel, while categorized as a biographical novel, it does rely on a lot of historical facts and figures while blending in some fiction. The reader learns of Dawson’s English origins and his early start as a writer back home. Sarah’s family meanwhile has lost her father, brothers, and the family home in the war and have had to start over again. Both have an immense sense of integrity and respect for decorum and the law. While the book shows that they are a bit more progressive than others, throughout the novel the reader is reminded that the story is set in the early days of Jim Crow. While Dawson is against lynching or any kind of violence and has often promoted a certain level of equality, he is still a man of the times and believes that the Black race was created as inferior to the White race.
But even though the novel deals a lot with the subject of race and the violence perpetrated against freedmen and women and their quick ascent to power, at its center there is a love story. Robinson honors the love, loyalty, and bond between her great-grandparents. That is evident in the correspondence letters that Dawson sent Sarah Morgan during their courtship. It was a treat to have some of that early correspondence between them included in the novel, especially as the novel progresses to the climactic end.
Upon finishing this book, I found myself so interested in the lives of the real life counterparts of these characters. Robinson has done such a fantastic job at weaving the story of her great-grandparents life in America with fictional prose that it is difficult at times to separate fact from fiction. And it was difficult. I feel that because of the subject matters explored in the novel, there are moments when you have to remind yourself that this part fiction and the parts that aren’t, are based on the author’s family. The sentiments expressed by those in the novel are typical of the time.
The novel, although slow in the first half, really picks up and redeems itself during the second half. Robinson offers a close look at the racial tension and sentiments of the South, particularly South Carolina during this time. It also presented a close look at what someone who immigrated to this country emotionally experienced watching the country change. As a reader, she takes you into how hard Dawson fought for the truth, for his newspaper, and for his family. She gives you a little piece of history that happens to be part of her family history and leave you wanting to know more.
Dawson’s Fall
By Roxana Barry Robinson
352 pages. 2019
About Karla Mendez
Karla Mendez is a writer and artist based in Florida. She is obsessed with buying books at a faster pace than she can read. An avid journal keeper, her favorite part of the day is watching the sun rise as she writes. She is always happy to discuss books and films - find her on Instagram at @kmmendez
