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Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South

Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South

Paperback

Black American Studies

ISBN10: 0393303144
ISBN13: 9780393303148
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: Apr 1 1986
Pages: 440
Weight: 1.15
Height: 1.20 Width: 5.40 Depth: 8.40
Language: English
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.

Also in

Black American Studies