Books Written by Mae Silver

I thought to write a story about my softball playing Aunt Anne, who turned 92 years old this year. Her softball story is larger than just her experience, it is a reflection of the days and places she lived. Her life in the Arians—the women’s softball team she joined in Linden, New Jersey in the 1930s—is nestled, fits, dovetails into the history of her times and those before her.

These women showed a particular talent for finding and defining themselves in their contributions to the place they lived in—Fort Lauderdale. My father taught me a belief. He said, “There is no one right way to do anything. The task is to find your way and do it.” Each of these women showed how to do it and will forever serve as an inspiration for each of us women to find our own way in this life in Fort Lauderdale. That is empowerment.

Women’s history is often overlooked, but in this volume, Mae K. Silver unearths the lost stories of nine different women who had a profound influence on the history of Jacksonville, Florida, from the 19th century all the way to the present. Covering such well-known characters as Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Palmetto Leaves), to lesser known characters such as the Senegalese woman Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley who endured the Middle Passage to end up as a landowner in the area. An exemplary model of grassroots history, this book opens a new chapter in women’s history in northern Florida, and blazes a trail for future historians to go further.

Also by Mae Silver, not pictured:

Iron Lace

Messenger To The World: Thomas Paine

Finding Thomas Paine in Bordentown

Thomas Paine’s  Christmas Bridge

Aunt Gussie’s Stories

Singing From Their Hearts