This was a fascinating book to research.
Everyone knows of the Civil War – most believe it was just about slavery – and whether that is true or not, in this book, Bridgit delves more into what freedom actually means for all concerned – black, brown and white. She also discovers facts that to many were not taught in history.
For instance:
- In Charleston, South Carolina about 42 percent of free blacks owned slaves in 1850
- About 64 percent of black slaveholders were women
- In 1860 Maria Weston, was a black woman who owned 14 slaves and property valued at more than $40,000, at a time when the average white man earned about $100 a year
- When South Carolina seceded, 82 members of the city’s ‘brown elite’ signed an address to the governor stating, “We are by birth citizens of SC, in our veins is the blood of the white race in some half, in others more, our attachments are with you.” They then vowed that they would “offer up our lives, and all that is dear to us” in the defense of their state.
- Robert E. Lee’s mother really was buried more than a year before she gave birth to him
- The remains of the cannon are still lodged to this day in the roof of the Roper house.
- The inter-racial feast presented by black restaurateur Nat Fuller really did happen as described, and has been hailed as the beginning of reconstruction and healing in South Carolina…
…and so much more…