Altogether Different - by Brianna Wheeler Paperback

Book Synopsis

If you could choose between being Black and being white, what would you do?

As a child, Brianna Wheeler, the mixed-race descendant of Dangerfield Newby-first of John Brown's raiders to die at Harpers Ferry in their bid to end slavery-unconsciously chose whiteness, unaware that she had the choice at all. As an adult, following the deaths of her mother and grandmother, Brianna struggled with her own identity, convinced that her lasting legacy would be the rejection of her own Blackness.

Then, in 2020, a racial reckoning rekindled her connection to both her heritage and her grandmother's lifelong work of preserving the stories of Dangerfield and the rest of her ancestors, leading Brianna to confront both long-held family dynamics and her own place in history-from a new perspective.

A unique blend of memoir, creative nonfiction and illustration, Altogether Different untangles the complex connection between the stories we tell ourselves and the histories preserved for us.

Review Quotes

Altogether Different is a compelling read. Moreover, author Brianna Wheeler deftly connects the dots to redefine her racial identity by drawing on her family's long forgotten past rooted in the actions of her heroic mixed-race ancestor Dangerfield Newby. He died in October 1859 at Harper's Ferry in the fight to abolish slavery, but his spirit lives on in Wheeler's memoir.

- Eugene L. Meyer, author, Five for Freedom: The African American Soldiers in John Brown's Army