Bibb Country: Unearthing My Family Secrets of Land, Legacy and Lettuce
By Lonnae O’Neal
Andscape Books, 2025

Lonnae O’Neal’s ancestor, Keziah, was enslaved by the Kentucky Bibb family, including John Bigger Bibb who developed the famed lettuce strain. Like many families in the era of slavery in America, the genealogies of Keziah and her enslavers were blended. A mix of memoir, food history, and cultural critique, Bibb Country brings the family stories to life (both Black and White), exploring what it means to be descended from a wealthy and powerful family through enslavement and confronting a history that echoes across generations in America.

This event is presented in partnership with Historic Lewes Farmers Market and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ). 

About the Author
Lonnae O’Neal was a reporter and columnist at The Washington Post for 20+ years before becoming a Senior Writer for Andscape, exploring the intersection of race, sports, and culture. She is the author of I’m Every Woman: Remixed Stories of Marriage, Motherhood, and Work. She and her family live in DC.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2025 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. 

Thanks to all of our donors, especially our education and outreach funding partners: Ronald Collins & Susan Cohen, Carolyn & Aaron Nayer, Jen Mason & Clare Hancock, and Browseabout Books. HBF authors visit classrooms in Delaware, and HBF provides their books to schools, libraries, and community organizations.

Our Keynote event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties and Sally Mott Freeman & John K. Freeman; our Closing event is presented by the Delaware Community Foundation. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.