Jimmie Barnes

JIMMIE BARNES is a novel that addresses the issue of race in America. The story takes place in 1988 at the tail end of Ronald Reagan's conservative revolution. Jimmie Barnes is a Mississippi nursing home resident who claims to be well over one hundred years old and a former slave. Jimmie has spent a long lifetime pursuing the return of his father's slave reparations, his forty acres, at times reaching out directly to U.S. presidents. With death nearing, Jimmie resolves to make one more effort; with his nursing home caretaker he takes on Congress, the media, the civil rights establishment and the courts to win the return of his family's forty acres. The story has historic elements and at times is funny, poignant and violent.