Unfolded in this extraordinary collection of letters is the story of an American slave family living in two worlds—Liberia and Alabama. Dating from 1834 to 1865, the letters give a rare glimpse into the inner lives of both slaves and freedmen. They reveal the relationship of two generations of the S...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben

Weitere Verfasser:	Miller, Randall M. (HerausgeberIn)
Format:	Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:	English
Veröffentlicht:	Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press [2019]
Schlagworte:	LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Letters
Online-Zugang:	FAB01 FAW01 FHA01 FKE01 FLA01 UPA01 UBG01 FCO01 Volltext
Zusammenfassung:	Unfolded in this extraordinary collection of letters is the story of an American slave family living in two worlds—Liberia and Alabama. Dating from 1834 to 1865, the letters give a rare glimpse into the inner lives of both slaves and freedmen. They reveal the relationship of two generations of the Skipwith family with the planter John Hartwell Cocke, a Jeffersonian liberal who freed some of his slaves and sent others from Bremo, his home in Virginia, to work on a cotton plantation he owned in Alabama.The letters fall into two groups, preceded by an ambitious introductory essay by Professor Miller. The first group was written by Peyton Skipwith and his children from Liberia, where they had settled following their emancipation by Cocke in 1834. These letters are particularly valuable for the light they shed on Liberia's early history, the slow and sometimes painful adjustment of the former slaves to frontier and alien surroundings, and the preservation of religious and family ties.The second, larger series of letters was written by George Skipwith (Peyton's brother) and his daughter Lucy, who worked, respettively, as the slave driver and the houseservant-schoolteacher at Cocke's plantation in Alabama. These letters suggest the delicate interplay, the subtle tensions, and the mutual accommodation that characterized the relationships of the "privileged bondsman" with master and slaves. They also detail the daily activities of a "scientifically" managed farm, and offer valuable insights into the place of religion in antebellum Southern life and the impact of the Civil War. In"Dear Master," the Skipwiths and the people they write about come alive. Readers interested in black history, slavery, and the Civil War era will want this book on their shelves
Beschreibung:	Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)
Beschreibung:	1 online resource (304 pages) 2 maps, 16 b&w photographs
ISBN:	9781501738838
DOI:	10.7591/9781501738838