Iola Leroy

Iola Leroy Summary

Iola Leroy begins in North Carolina as a group of slaves secretly meet to discuss the Union Army's war progress and their lives under their slave masters. The slaves later flee their owners and escape to find refuge with a nearby unit of the Union Army. The group is led by Robert Johnson, a mixed-race slave who is courageous, kind, and compassionate.

With the Union soldiers, the now former slaves learn that an abusive slave master is holding a young woman named Iola Leroy. One of the slaves, Tom Anderson, arranges for her rescue. Once she is freed, Iola stays with the Union army as a nurse. Tom Anderson is gravely wounded in a fight with the Confederate forces, and Iola cannot save him. Iola appears white and has blue eyes, and Dr. Gresham, a white physician, falls in love with Iola. He is initially taken aback when he learns that she is biracial but proposes to her regardless.

Fig. 2 - Iola works as a nurse in the Union army (Susie King Taylor, pictured above, is considered the first African American Army nurse).

The story flashes back to Iola's parents and her childhood. Her father, Eugene Leroy, was a wealthy slave owner whose friends deserted him when he became dangerously sick. He falls in love with Marie, one of his slaves, when she nurses him back to health. He then sends Marie to school, frees her from slavery, and marries her despite protests from his family. The couple has three children: Iola, Harry, and Gracie, who pass as white. They send Harry and Iola to a school in the North and keep them ignorant that they have Black ancestors to protect them from prejudice.

When Eugene dies, his cousin, Alfred Lorraine, finds legal loopholes to take everything from Marie and the children. He has the Leroys' marriage voided and sells Marie, Iola, Harry, and Gracie back into slavery.

Back in the present, Iola refuses to marry Dr. Gresham. Harry joins the Union army and joins a black unit. Although he could pass for white, he chooses to identify with the other Black soldiers. Iola cares for Robert when he is hurt in battle. Through their conversations, the two discover they are long-lost relatives.

As the Civil War ends, the Leroys are reunited. Robert returns to the plantation where he was a slave to find it a thriving Black settlement where all the former slaves are free. He also reconnects with his long-lost mother.

When Iola moves north, she struggles with discrimination in the housing market and the workforce. She falls in love with and marries Dr. Latimer, an intelligent biracial man who faces obstacles in his medical career due to his race. The Leroy family continues advocating for civil rights and speaking out against racial oppression.

Fig. 3 - The Leyroys continue fighting for civil rights long after the Civil War ends.

Iola Leroy Characters

Most of the characters in Iola Leroy are black or biracial, and they embrace their identity instead of feeling shame for it. Most white characters are sympathetic toward the Union's cause and fight to end slavery.

Iola Leroy

The novel's titular character, Iola Leroy, is a biracial woman who was raised believing she was white. She takes on a pro-slavery view at school because her father always treated his slaves kindly. Her outlook on slavery changes when her family loses everything and she becomes a slave. She eventually embraces her Black identity and advocates for civil rights long after the Civil War.

Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson is a former slave who flees his slave owner to join the Union army. After he is wounded in battle, he and Iola realize he is her long-lost uncle. Robert moves with Iola to the North, where he advocates for civil rights.

Harry Leroy

Iola's brother, Harry is also raised believing that he is white. He becomes ill after he learns that he is biracial but later enlists in a Black unit in the Union army. Although he could pass as white, he embraces his Black identity.

Marie Leroy

Iola and Harry's mother, Marie Leroy was a biracial slave owned by Eugene Leroy. She is compassionate and kind, taking care of Eugene when he is abandoned after falling ill. Eugene falls in love with her, marries her, and frees her. Marie and her children are sold back into slavery after Eugene's death.

Eugene Leroy

A kind slave owner, Eugene Leroy realizes the immorality of slavery after he falls in love with Marie. He goes against the status quo and marries her despite protests from his family and friends. He becomes a social outcast and sends his children to school in the North so they won't discover and be persecuted for their biracial identity.

Alfred Lorraine

The cousin of Eugene, Alfred Lorraine is racist and pro-Confederate. He tells Eugene not to marry a Black woman. After Eugene's death, Lorraine sells the Leroys back into slavery.

Dr. Latimer

A biracial physician, Dr. Latimer is a strong proponent of civil rights. Latimer's intelligence challenges the commonly-held belief that Black people are mentally inferior. He and Iola fall in love and marry.

Dr. Gresham

A doctor in the Union army, Dr. Gresham supports the abolition of slavery but believes that African Americans were socially inferior to whites. He pursues Iola but is taken aback when he realizes that she is biracial. He still wants to marry her but only if she renounces her Black identity and identifies as a white woman.

Iola Leroy Themes

The main themes in the novel are racial oppression, gender limitations, and the fight for freedom.

Racial Oppression and Gender Limitations

From the very first page, slaves seek an escape from the racial oppression they encounter in their everyday lives. From their family members being sold to physical abuse, the characters have plenty of reasons to flee to the Union army. Even there, they experience racism as they can only fight in Black units and the doctors treat them differently from white soldiers.

Racial oppression is just as apparent in the lives of the multiracial Leroy family. Eugene, who grew up with wealth and prestige, is socially ostracized after he marries Marie. After his death, there is no protection for his wife and children against the villainous Alfred Lorraine, who is quickly able to disown the family as Eugene's heirs. Iola's subsequent enslavement, issues with the housing market, and inability to find employment because of her gender are further examples of the gender and racial oppression apparent in her society.

The Fight for Freedom

The Black characters never stop fighting for the freedom of all African Americans. Robert and the other former slaves volunteer for the Civil War in the hopes of winning their freedom, with some like Tom Anderson even giving their lives for the cause.

Even after the war, the Leroys and former slaves continue fighting for equality and freedom. Part of that freedom comes from honoring their past and reclaiming their history, as Harry's wife notes:

By the end of the novel, the Black characters still face racial injustice. Still, they continue fighting for freedom and empowerment as they advocate for civil rights.

Iola Leroy Analysis

Iola Leroy is a story about perseverance, empowerment, and the fight against racial oppression. Set during the Civil War, it is a celebration of the end of slavery and the hope for a better future. The characters in the novel are (literally and figuratively) not just black and white. Instead, they are complex characters who change over time and grow as they become more educated.

Eugene, for example, was a wealthy slaveowner who profited from the people he kept enslaved. Yet his entire view on slavery changed when he developed a deep connection with a slave. Eugene is far from perfect, keeping his children's identities a secret from them and hiding them from the rest of the world. But he is also one of the loudest critics of the institution of slavery and shows how even someone with the most privilege to lose can be an ally.

Fig. 4 - The characters are dynamic and their thinking evolves as they do, showing the complexity of the human condition.

Iola, similarly, is a dynamic character with a complicated and ever-evolving relationship with slavery. At first, she has pro-slavery leanings. But when she learns of her ancestry and experiences slavery herself, her Blackness becomes a central part of her identity. She even refuses to marry a white man because of how her people have been oppressed. The characters are realistic because their relationships with racism and oppression evolve over time as they do. They have morally gray moments, but they constantly strive to be better.

The novel does not follow a chronological timeline, instead jumping between the past, present, and future. This helps to create suspense as well as develop conflict. It also reveals the lingering effects of racial oppression in the United States. Though slavery legally ends, the Black characters do not experience true freedom or equality.

Iola Leroy Quotes

The major quotes in the novel examine themes of racial oppression, sexism, religion, and freedom.

Eugene Leroy makes this impassioned speech as he argues with his cousin about his decision to marry Marie. Eugene notes society's hypocrisy and blind hatred. This quotation reveals Southern society's belief that African Americans are socially inferior and mixed race marriages are abhorrent. Eugene realizes that society will scorn him for making Marie his wife instead of just selling her and their children into slavery, but he does not care. He ultimately marries Marie and raises their biracial children as his own, which, as he predicted, ostracizes their family.

Iola speaks this quote after the war ends and she has moved to the North with her family. As Iola struggles to find a job, she considers how society is controlled by men who had built the world to benefit them and keep women weak and subordinate. With these feminist views, Iola states that life would be much better for women if they were given the opportunity to make a life for themselves.

When Harry learns that his family lost everything because they are Black, he questions how something like this could happen in civilized, supposedly-Christian America. Harry's principal at his school in the North helps him grapple with this question and why slavery in general was permitted in one of the most advanced countries in the world. The principal asserts that people call themselves Christian but do not actually live by the code of ethics that Jesus preached.