(typewriter typing) (doorbell rings) - [Jocelyn] Well, I'm Jocelyn Nicole Johnson.

And this is My Monticello, a collection of short stories and a novella about belonging, freedom and home.

(soft upbeat music) - I would like to start by asking you, what inspired you to write My Monticello?

- My Monticello really is the story of Da'Naisha and her grandmother who are descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.

They're black descendants that live in Charlottesville, Virginia.

And in a time a near future time of unraveling, they're kind of forced to flee their neighborhood.

(soft upbeat music) They go with a bunch of neighbors.

They're kind of forced by the weather, they're kind of forced by circumstance and they kind of make this decision to inhabit the house.

And it's a really pivotal moment.

I think it says in the story, "Walking to Monticello that day was like breaking a seal."

So, they're kind of choosing to use this space as a real space to live in and not as an historical monument.

In this story, I wanted a young descendant, a black descendant of Monticello and have her grappling with how she feels about her enslaved ancestors in the past, how she feels about her founding father, great, great, great, great grandfather.

How she feels about that space.

And so, I think it's complicated.

- Jocelyn, do you have hope for black white brown relations in the United States?

- [Jocelyn] I absolutely do.

There's a big idea in this story that we will rise and sing together.

And yes, there are people who are gonna struggle because of this more in a moment, but ultimately we have to have hope, we have to work at it.

- Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, thank you so much for being with us today.

And thank you for watching A Word on Words.

For more of our conversation, please visit awordonwords.org.

I'm Alka Joshi, keep reading.

- [Jocelyn] I literally named the grandmother in the book, MaViolet.

Is this echo to my grandmother's name without realizing until much later that I'd done it.

We called her Mapenshi.

So, I always think about that connection.