In actuality, the McKennas are a bit ahead of their time. Alice comes to Old House and stirs up a bit of a ruckus in the Family, but it began well before that.
Amy's father had been part Blackfoot, a Native American tribe common to the Louisiana area, which had been another reason that Amy's grandparents had refused to acknowledge her parents' marriage or Amy herself. Both Boone and Brynn's appearance hark back to this union and Boone's obvious heritage causes friction when he starts to court Schuyler Carson.
Which leads to the Big House, across the Soque River from Old House. The only daughter of Sam and Esther Carson, Schuyler was expected, at least by Esther, to make a "good match", and instead she sets her cap for the swarthy, dark-eyed hired help from the other side of the river. Sam doesn't care, but Schuyler's brother does and it takes awhile to get sorted out.
At that time, it had been fifty years since the Civil War and, in fact, there were not many African-American residents in that part of the hills. Many black residents were gravitating north, or were sharecroppers on larger farms to the south. Work was scarce, subsistence farming was hard enough for the white residents of the Appalachians. Wealthier families still had black help in the kitchens, but wealthy families were few and far between in the North Georgia hills.
So, Comfort and Ginny, in the McKenna books, are a rare breed in Dooley. In fact, they are the only black family in the town, their son Joe is the only black child until Alice comes along. It is no wonder that Ginny feels protective of him and doesn't allow him to try to push his way into the local school. It is a constant struggle for Alice herself to fit in, and only with the large flock of cousins is it accomplished until she goes away to school in Macon.
And then, Joe starts taking an interest in a white girl in town.
How would that go over? In writing the books, I figured there would be trouble, but I also wanted to explore, as always, exactly where would the McKennas as individuals come down on the subject.
The McKennas are not without bias. They are not paragons of tolerance. They despise the Bennettes, for instance, and this will play out more fully in future generations. But, the McKennas have also known prejudice themselves, and this leads them to have more empathy for Joe.
Morgan's best friend, Eli Brett, had been Jewish; the Carsons looked down on Boone as a "local", or one of the hill people, and not fit to handle their horses; the self-sufficient, independent mountain population was seen as odd and uncouth.
But, the McKenna children, Boone's kids, have been raised with Joey as another sibling. He is as close as a brother to Dakota and Carson, another cousin as far as the cousins are concerned. Ginny and Comfort have proved absolute heroes again and again in the raising of Boone's children, and Schuyler considers Ginny as her closest ally, even beyond Brynn.
But, then I wondered, how would Ginny and Comfort feel about their son being involved outside of his race? It was interesting to explore this aspect, and also to try to explain why, in Ginny's eyes, it was no more acceptable from her standpoint than it would be to Janey's white parents. Ginny does not want Joe to be involved with a white girl, but why wouldn't she?
I let Dakota ask the questions and let Ginny try to explain. Dakota, who reflects his non-Caucasian heritage even more so that Boone, had never heard a hint of bigotry from his parents and, in fact, had had more racism leveled at himself from his Uncle Cale than he had ever heard toward Joe in his growing up years. He has always been completely at home with both races. And, Ginny's attitude will leave him adrift, not understanding where he stands with either.
Racism in the South has always been a booger-bear. It may always be, I suppose, unless Jesus holds off long enough for a few more generations to pass. With the McKennas, I tried to show that attitudes about black/white is not defined by what color skin the person has, and that race can just be a cover-up for class-bigotry.
And, for the McKenna Family, nothing is ever too clear-cut, anyway. Keeps it interesting.