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Biblioteca | Tipo de material | Signatura | Estado |
---|---|---|---|
Búsqueda… Archives and History | Reference book | HIST 975.912 SCHAFER | Búsqueda… Desconocido |
Búsqueda… Archives and History | Reference book | HIST 975.912 SCHAFER | Búsqueda… Desconocido |
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Resumen
Resumen
"Undoubtedly the best documented record of a slave born in Africa,who married her owner in East Florida, operated a plantation after her husband's death, and ruled as matriarch over an extended family until the Civil War. Schafer has reconstructed Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley's story in a remarkable way."--Bruce L. Mouser, editor, A Slaving Voyage to Africa and Jamaica: The Log of the Sandown, 1793-1794
"Provides an unexpectedly thorough account that traces the life of a woman from a Wolof village in Senegal, across the Atlantic via the middle passage, to a Florida community of African slaves and white slave owners."-- Southern Historian
"An absorbing account of Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, an African woman who was enslaved, forcibly transported to Florida, held in bondage, freed, and married to her white master; she bore several of his children and then rose to prominence as a slaveholder. . . . Brings a wider understanding to the lives of enslaved and free women in the nineteenth century South."-- Journal of American History
"Contributes to a growing literature on the possibilities for slave women's emancipation, especially in Spanish territory, and for propertied women's social and economic power in the Old South."-- Journal of Southern History
"Reminds the reader of the variations of the slave experience, the possibilities of forging racial bonds, and the debilitating effects of the racial divide in American society."-- Georgia Historical Quarterly
"Fosters understanding of the differences and similarities in the institution of slavery, in the distinction between free and enslaved, and in attitudes of racial prejudice between Spanish Florida and the United States."-- North Carolina Historical Review
Anna Kingsley's life story adds a dramatic chapter to histories of the South, the state of Florida, and the African diaspora. Working from surprisingly extensive records, including information and photographs from extended-family members and descendants, Daniel Shafer reconstructs and documents one slave's remarkable story.
Both an American slave and a slaveowner--and possibly an African princess--Anna was a teenager when she was captured in her homeland of Senegal in 1806 and sold into slavery. Zephaniah Kingsley, Jr., a planter and slave trader from Spanish East Florida, bought her in Havana, Cuba, and took her to his St. Johns River plantation in northeast Florida, where she soon became his household manager, his wife, and eventually the mother of four of his children. Her husband formally emancipated her in 1811, and she became the owner of her own farm and twelve slaves the following year.
For 25 years, life on her farm and at the Kingsley plantation on Fort George Island was relatively tranquil. But when Florida passed from Spanish to American control, and racism and discrimination increased in the American territories, Anna Kingsley and her children migrated to a colony in Haiti established by her husband as a refuge for free blacks. Amid the spiraling racial tensions of the antebellum period, Anna returned to north Florida, where she bought and sold land, sued white people in the courts, and became a central figure in a free black community. Such accomplishments by a woman in a patriarchal society are fascinating in themselves. To have achieved them as a woman of color is remarkable.
Daniel L. Schafer is professor emeritus of history at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville.
Reseñas (2)
Reseña de Booklist
Schafer expands on previously written material about the fascinating legend of an African princess, brought to Florida as a slave, who later became a plantation and slave owner. Basing his work on extensive documentation, including interviews with African griots, Schafer traces the history of Anna Madgigine Jai from her homeland of Senegal, where she was captured at about 13 years of age in 1806 and sold to Zephaniah Kingsley, a maritime merchant, slave trader, and later an abolitionist. Kingsley eventually married Anna, made her manager of his plantation, and fathered four children with her. Anna was an independent, enterprising woman, who managed the plantation for 25 years until expanding U.S. territory threatened race relations, the family's cohesion, and inheritance rights. The family fled to Haiti, but after her husband's death Anna returned to the U.S. to answer legal challenges to his will, which left sizable portions of his estate to her and their children. This is a fascinating look at an extraordinary woman and the complexities of slavery beyond the common image of slavery in the South. --Vanessa Bush
Reseña de Choise
Captured in Africa as a teenager, Anna Kingsley would become the wife of a Florida planter, a land owner with business interests in Florida and Haiti, a slaveholder, and the matriarch of an extended family of black, white, and mixed race members. In recounting her story, Schafer (Univ. of North Florida) provides insight not only into the life of this remarkable woman but also into the race, class, and gender distinctions of her time. Anna's rise from slave to slaveholder was made possible by the more liberal racial policies of Spanish Florida. The acquisition of that territory by the US threatened her prosperity and her very freedom and that of her mixed race family members. When a move to Haiti did not provide a safe haven, Anna returned to Florida. Using the court system, she was able to hold her ground in an increasingly racist climate, until the Civil War devastated her family's fortunes, as it did countless others. General readers interested in slavery and Florida history, as well as more advanced students and historians, can profitably read this slender volume. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels/collections. D. Butts Gordon College (GA)
Tabla de contenido
List of Maps & Photographs | p. vii |
Preface | p. ix |
Acknowledgments | p. xiii |
Introduction | p. 1 |
1. Senegal: Anta Majigeen Ndiaye | p. 4 |
2. Havana: Zephaniah Kingsley, Jr. | p. 20 |
3. Laurel Grove: Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley | p. 27 |
4. The Patriot War | p. 35 |
5. Fort George Island | p. 45 |
6. Refuge in Haiti and Return to Florida | p. 66 |
7. A Free Black Community in a Time of Race Hysteria | p. 77 |
8. Final Flight: The American Civil War | p. 101 |
9. Final Years | p. 111 |
A Personal Postscript | p. 122 |
Appendix The Last Will and Testament of Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley | p. 129 |
Notes | p. 133 |
Bibliography | p. 155 |
Index | p. 169 |