Description
Temporarily out of stock
Title: Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South
Author: JOHNSON MICHAEL P
Format: PAPERBACK
Publication date: 01/04/1986
Imprint: NORTON
Price: $45.95
Publishing status: Active
In 1860, when four million African Americans were enslaved, a quarter-million others, including William Ellison, were \”free people of color.\” But Ellison was remarkable. Born a slave, his experience spans the history of the South from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. In a day when most Americans, black and white, worked the soil, barely scraping together a living, Ellison was a cotton-gin maker-a master craftsman. When nearly all free blacks were destitute, Ellison was wealthy and well-established. He owned a large plantation and more slaves than all but the richest white planters.
While Ellison was exceptional in many respects, the story of his life sheds light on the collective experience of African Americans in the antebellum South to whom he remained bound by race. His family history emphasizes the fine line separating freedom from slavery.
ISBN: 9780393303148
Weight: 523g
Dimension: 21mm X 14mm
Pages: 440