Let Us March On
As the results of the Presidential election of 1932 come over the radio, Lizzie McDuffie prepares for an upheaval in her own life: Her husband, Irvin “Mac” McDuffie, is Franklin D. Roosevelt’s valet, and the Democratic victory means that Lizzie must leave her home and job in Atlanta to follow Mac and his employer to Washington. Lizzie quickly secures a maid’s job in the White House and gains the confidence of both the President and First Lady. Soon she learns that her proximity to power gives her a unique opportunity—that of advocating for her fellow Blacks, who face not only discrimination and segregation but terrorism in the form of lynchings.
Told by Lizzie in the form of a memoir, Let Us March On is a moving portrayal of a courageous woman, one who pushed the boundaries of her position while always being dogged by the sense that she could be doing more. The ups and downs of Lizzie and Mac’s married life are skillfully portrayed, as is the couple’s occasionally strained, but genuinely and mutually affectionate relationship with the Roosevelts. (Fala-watchers will not be disappointed either.) This is Moon’s first historical novel; it is a worthy debut.
