Southern Race relations

Southern Race relations are a disordered and mismanaged mess snared in prejudices, suppression, and failures in communication. Tangled Branches does not fit into the popular context of the causes or effects. While slavery existed within the author's family for thirty-four years, the black and white families remained together for 150 years.

The story of Tangled Branches

Tangled Branches is a week-long discussion between the author and the African-American grandson of his mother's maid. It is the story of a middle age white man facing his own fears of allegations of racial prejudice and finding the responsibility to tell the African-American family's history. It is the true story of the black family history through the white family. Both families are traced five generations through the evolution of both technology and society, from pioneers to the 1970s.

Revelations and history

It recounts the crimes committed by both upon each other and on those around them. It reveals a generational dependence each family had upon the other. While popular dialogue claims black and white races separated at the conclusion of the American Civil War, Tangled Branches tells how one family remained together; from Tilly a freed slave using the white family's farm as an underground railroad station, through both black and white working together to supply Al Capone with whiskey, to Ina walking out after decades of abuse.

Final separation and reconciliation

It tells of the final separation of the two families when the author's mother's maid is fired, and of their reconciliation.