Ely, An Autobiography

Ely Green was born in Sewanne, Tennessee, in 1893.  His father was a member of the white gentry, the son of a former Confederate officer.  His mother was a housemaid, the daughter of a former slave.  In this small Episcopal community-home to the University of the South-Ely lived his early childhood oblivious to the implications of his illegitimacy and his parentage.  He was nearly nine years old before he realized that being different from his white playmates was of any real significance.

An incident at a local drugstore marked the beginning of what would be a painful rite of passage from an idyllic childhood through a tormented adolescence as Ely struggled to understand why he could not wholly belong to either his father's world or his mother's.