Meggy MacIntosh: A Highland Girl in the Carolina Colony by Elizabeth Janet Gray (published 1930) is a middle grade novel awarded a Newbery Honor in 1931. As the subtitle suggests, it focuses on Scottish immigrants to South Carolina, specifically during the Revolutionary War. Meggy comes from a long line of highland wealth, but upon becoming orphaned, she is reduced in circumstance and left lonely with her uncle, aunt, and cousin, who are a part of the Scottish peerage and don’t take much time to nurture and support their lower class niece.
Although she is treated with kindness, few opportunities present themselves to her in the city, especially when her beloved tutor retires to return to the highlands. When a choice opportunity opens up for her to flee to the Americas, she takes it, pretending to be her cousin Veronica eloping with their friend Ewan. Ewan is not happy to find that Meggy has taken Veronica’s place. Yet, Meggy has plans for her time in the Carolinas and is determined to find her way.
I found Meggy’s story to be a bit slow in developing. She doesn’t leave Edinburgh until a third of the way through the book, and a good portion then follows her journey aboard the ship. Her time in South Carolina seems focused around experiencing different places (town, a plantation, a small Scottish village), and she doesn’t actually seem to do anything. Her main turmoil is determining which side of the Revolution she wished to be on: the Yankee “rebels” or the Scottish enclave of loyalists. Although her friend Ewan gets a job, Meggy by comparison is a wealthy observer of the various places she lived, only becoming useful toward the end, in the Scottish village. There is a subtle romantic friendship that develops as a subplot.
My main complaint with the book, however, was the painful racism. During Meggy’s time in Wilmington and on the Plantation, the slaves are referred to with inappropriate names, called “monkeys,” and otherwise treated as non-human in their approach to those around them. I understand that books are a product of their times. However, this made Meggy MacIntosh a book wholly unsuitable for modern-day reading, especially for children, who are the main audience for the book. (Side-note: There is also a social class discrimination against the indentured servant.)
As a historical fiction novel, Meggy MacIntosh gave a unique look at a particular people during the American Revolution. Because of Scottish history, the Scots feel a deep need to be loyal to the crown. The Battle of Culloden, the final defeat of the Jacobist uprising in 1746, is still a recent memory, and many had taken an oath of loyalty to the crown in the aftermath. Thus, although they are now in America, as colonists of the crown, loyalty is imperative. For the Scots, then, those who supported the war with England are traitors. I had never seen a perspective like this, and I learned about the Jacobist uprising and the aftermath. These are interesting points.
As a whole, I cannot defend or recommend Meggy MacIntosh. The interesting aspects are overshadowed by the racism. I sincerely hope no young child reads it at this time, as it cannot easily be amended. Some will say: oh, it’s an opportunity to teach my kids what is not appropriate. However, there are so many moments of insidious suggestion that this would not be a successful technique. There are too many subtleties to the racism that no one can edit them out: the whole attitude is of white superiority. What a shame I cannot suggest yet another Newbery book due to racism.
