Generations is more than an elegy or a personal memoir. It is an attempt on the part of one woman to retrieve, and lyrically to celebrate, her Afro-American heritage, Miss Clifton is one of the few for whom oral history has preserved a record of African descent. Her family traces its line back to the brave, unflinching "Mammy Ca'line … born among the Dahomey people in 1822." With controlled irony, she tells the tale of slavery as though it were part of a family album…. Through it all, the Dahomey women clutched to the roots of their ancestry. They kept their pride and their courage…. With Miss Clifton, we "witness and wait." And we celebrate the collective heroism of those who survived a century of bondage. (pp. 112-13)

"Notes on Current Books: 'Generations: A Memoir'," in The Virginia Quarterly Review (copyright, 1976, by The Virginia Quarterly Review, The University of Virginia...