Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories from the Underground Railroad

Betty DeRamus

An enslaved man who carried his wife to freedom on his beaten and bruised back is one of the very real people in Betty DeRamus’s books about the little-known triumphs and achievement of runaway slaves. DeRamus, a Pulitzer Prize finalist from Detroit, is the author of Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories from the Underground Railroad (Atria Books, 2005). It is a collection of true stories about black and interracial couples who risked their lives to avoid separation during the slavery era. Besides John Little, who carried his wife to freedom, Forbidden Fruit also tells the stories of a free black Virginian who became a slave to remain with his enslaved wife and a black Civil War Union soldier who crossed Confederate lines to see his wife. An enslaved teenaged girl who spent 18 hours inside a wooden chest to rendezvous with her free fiancé is another of the 15 vivid character. Forbidden Fruit spent 9 months on Essence Magazine’s bestseller list and has been used as a textbook in Tennessee, New York, Virginia, Michigan and elsewhere.

Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts wrote: “the stories Betty DeRamus has unearthed resonate with me. They bear retelling and sharing with those among us who have forgotten or else never knew, who we are, how we got over, and the things we did for love.

DeRamus also is the author of Freedom by Any Means: True Stories of Cunning and Courage on the Underground Railroad (Atria Books, 2009). The Raw Sistaz Review named it one of the best African American books of 2009, and it was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s 2010 Legacy Award.

DeRamus’s many journalistic honors include an international reporting award from the National Association for Black Journalists for her Detroit News coverage of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. She was a Pulitzer Priize finalist in 1993 for a selection of Detroit News columns. While a Detroit Free Press editorial writer, she received first prize for education writing from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a Distinguished Journalism citation from the Scripps Howard Foundation and first prize from the Overseas Press Club of America for columns about the roots of African hunger.