Robert Carter III was born into the highest circles of Virginia's Colonial aristocracy, neighbor and kin to the Washingtons and Lees and a friend and peer to Thomas Jefferson and George Mason. But in 1791, Carter severed his ties with this elite at the stroke of a pen. Having gradually grown to feel that what he possessed was not truly his, clashing repeatedly with his neighbors, his friends, government officials, and, most poignantly, his own family, he set free nearly five hundred slaves in the largest single act of liberation in the history of American slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation. (From the publisher's description)
This history book includes many illustrations and photos.
Contents: The day of jubilee -- How free is free? -- "Give us this, and we will protect ourselves" -- A second bondage -- Black spirit, black mind -- A new war -- Redemption and rejection -- Timeline.
Explores the events leading up to Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which freed most slaves, and its effects on the course of the Civil War.
Uses slave narratives, letters, diaries, military orders, and other documents to chronicle the various stages leading to the emancipation of slaves in the United States.
The best thing about the library is that it is available not only to me, but to everyone. It does not discriminate. It makes itself available to those who want to use it.
