For generations, Bettye Kearse's family had passed down an oral tradition that they were descended from James Madison and his enslaved cook. Although confronted with obstacles at every turn, Kearse embarked on a journey of discovery—of her ancestors, the nation, and herself—finding that wherever African slaves walked, recorded history silenced their voices: beside a slave-holding fortress in Ghana; below a federal building in New York City; and under a brick walkway at Madison's Virginia plantation. Part personal quest, part historical correction, Kearse's book is a compelling account of the search for the whole story.