Creating Fiction from History: 7/20/2022

Marbella and Dinae Washington were, respectively, both the daughters of a mixed-race couple from Panora, Iowa, in what has now been designated a Guthrie County Historical Village. Just a hundred feet or so from the Middle Racoon River, the Washington girls were both born water babies, even though Dinae was adopted by the Washingtons just before her fifth birthday. Even though Marbella was a couple of years older, Dinae soon all but surpassed her sister with her readiness to the water!

Grover and Dinah Washington had moved from their respective states back East, in the year 1851, to Iowa, which...