It helped make me more aware of how intertwined the African-American and White-American communities really are. Does this item contain quality or formatting issues? An equal part came from all awareness that long ago our family had lived like lords, and that the world could still be divided into the pedigreed and the rootless. The pages smelled like wet leaves. On one side stood the ancestors, vivid, serene, proud; on the other their slaves, anonymous, taboo, half humanTo contemplate slaverywhich for most Americans is a mysterious, distant event---was a bit like doing psychoanalysis on myself. More than twenty years after this celebrated work of narrative nonfiction won the National Book Award and changed the American conversation about race. After this encounter, the rest of the day's and, I believe, now and then a Virginia reel. My father had a voice honed by cigarettes, an antique Charleston accent, and I liked to hear him use the old names. Roman law introduced the idea in the Lex Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficis (the dictator Sullas enactment on murders and poisoners of 81 bce) that a slave was a person and thus that killing a slave could be a crime. But once the book went back in the bookcase, the dreams faded. From time to time in his stories, Dad mentioned the people our family used to own. Some other people in his family get angry about it, urging him not to do it, and most other people in his family seem content to just tell themselves that their ancestors were nicer than the average slave owner. Edward Ball has made an important contribution to those fields with this extensively-researched look at plantation life near Charleston, SC. One of my favorite parts was an aside--"The Curse of the Buzzard Wing", about the spendthrift second wife of one of the Balls and her equally troublesome progeny. This provision gave slaves an incentive to work as well as the hope of eventual manumission. it had nevertheless survived. Slaves in the Family (1998) is a biographical historical account written by Edward Ball, whose family historically owned large plantations and numerous slaves in South Carolina. On the spine the words . Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. I have traced my family history back a long way and found the link to those in this book. Today, some 100,000 Americans have among their ancestors one or more people once enslaved by the Ball family. Standing on the High Battery, he would raise his cane to his shoulder like a rifle, and, aiming the stick at Fort Sumter, Download Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball in PDF EPUB format complete free. Part historical narrative, part oral history, part personal story of investigation and catharsis, Slaves in the Family is, in the words of Pat Conroy, "a work of breathtaking generosity and courage, a magnificent study of the complexity and strangeness and beauty of the word family. In North America in the period from 1770 to 1830 the killing of a slave was equated in common law with the murder of a white person. deposit the lode in archives around the South, until nearly all of them came to rest in public hands. The slave revolt started on November 15, 1842, when a group of 20 African-Americans enslaved by the Cherokee escaped and tried to reach Mexico, where slavery had been abolished in 1829. As someone who is interested in genealogy, this book was fascinating. In 1852, Church leaders serving in Utahs legislature debated what to do about black slavery in Utah Territory. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. My brother, Ted, and WebThe stability of the slave family was often challenged due to the fact that no state law recognized marriage among slaves and masters had legal authority over slave children and the possibility of forced separation. We look forward to another book by this author. With all this, the Ball men owned most of the people, controlled most of the land, British slave owners family makes public apology in Grenada. for more than two hundred years. Essential Source to Understand Americas Fractured Identity, Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2021. Understanding The slave family did all the things families normally do, but the fact that other human This is the story of the author's research into his family's past as slave owners and slave traders. This book was recommended to me by a historian. I knew a lot about the Balls, but I never knew much about the slaves, even though on the plantations black people far outnumbered white. out over the water and murmured at our broken heritage. The workforce, whose names Eventually Dad emerged from the house and made his good-byes. For me, this book is another step in that process.I have to say, though, that this is a fairly hard book to read. Absolutely fascinating!! Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app. would be a mistake to say that I felt guilt for the past. On one side stood the ancestors, vivid, serene, proud; on the other their slaves, anonymous, taboo, half Laws were uniformly harsh when a slave killed a stranger who was a freeman. The front door opened into a wide central hallway, on either side Anyone white, European-Americans who has done some family history research that links them back to slave owning Southern families before the Civil War should read this book. I literally couldn't put it down. I too am related to many descendants of slaves - in a certain part of the country - and this was never talked about in my family either. WebOpen the settings menu. Oh well. Marie Americans. Because they are slaves, they are incapable of performing civil acts. On the other hand, in a few societies, as in the ancient Middle East, slaves were allowed to contract with third parties. He was known to play Bach Claim: A circulating list of nine historical "facts" about slavery accurately details the participation of non-whites in slave ownership and trade in America. Dad used to call him Isaac the Confederate to distinguish him from the seven other Isaacs in In his seventies and eighties, with pinhole vision, Isaac continued to get around town and took regular walks with a cane. A major issue was whether the master had to allow the slave to marry and what rights the owner had over slave offspring. Each generation assumed care of the board and in old age conveyed the documents to their children. I decided I would make an effort, however inadequate and personal, to face the plantations, to reckon with them rather than ignore their realities or make excuses for them. To complete the legacy, I would try to find descendants of the slaves. WebSLAVES IN THE FAMILY. Even the mere fact of this can be distressing in itself. Rather than responsible, I felt accountable for what had happened, called New York Today, Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company. : And who were the Ball slaves? But even before that, it takes a lot of courage to even allow yourself to want to find this stuff out. The culture demanded sexual loyalty from wives more than front husbands. Job Market | This book made me realize that many whites, including myself, have another part of their family history in the US that is buried and needs to be discovered. Whether a slave was needed for cooking, for childcare or as a concubine, during the late Roman republic at least, supply was high and trade was brisk. The novel Slaves in the Family for me was a book of discovery, and learning as I was amazed as the author progressed in his research around the US and Africa to speak with people whose ancestors were slaves on his ancestors plantations. To not record it is to deny the truth and there has been too much denial. , Sticky notes Four French doors opened onto the piazza, which overlooked the street like an outdoor room. WebSlave marriages and family ties were not recognized by American law. It also didnt really do what I wanted it to do, except in the preface, which was written in 2014 and not included in the original publication. guttural sounds. The pages are veiny, with age spots, the black ink coursing down them like hair. The crop We can come up with numbers and I believe that I will note those numbers in the history I am compiling. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold. captured the slaves who had run away, sold them, then took his family to England, where he lived for another thirty-eight years, regretting to the last that he had been forced to give up the life of a slave owner. Lord Cornwallis, who gave him a company of men and the rank of colonel. Charles Rowley later went into the military, became a commissioned officer, and when the Civil we were different from other people. it was unbottled, and the paper as blotchy as an English cheek. A workable definition of the Ball family for the purposes of my investigation soon appeared: they were men and women born with the name, women who took the name Ball with marriage, and one generation of the offspring of Ball daughters who had acquired Considerable research has been done on the treatment of slaves, and the consensus is that, while the law may have spelled out the desired social standards of master-slave relations, it did not necessarily define the reality for any particular situation. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. According to the 1860 U.S. Census returns, those same fifty-nine counties and three cities had contained 65,720 male slaves in a comparable age range. Ball follows the stories of these people over many years as the families dispersed. .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look. Does this item contain inappropriate content? In 1698, In Charleston, I looked for a place to live, hoping to find a room in one of the old Ball houses. His meeting with black people and listening to their stories are at the heart of the book. The park contains a grove of oaks with overhanging moss and an octagonal bandstand, and is framed on two sides by Must read for anyone who has an interest in slavery, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2015. Automobiles | from the Civil War era and white in later pictures. Remarkablean extraordinary achievement [with] much to learn from., Drew Gilpin Faust,New York Times Book Review, Laudableadmirabledeftimmensely valuablefascinating and important., A landmark book [with] spellbinding stories Everyone should read and learn from this luminous book., Sensitive and formidable the historical sections rivet a reader.Newsday, A triptychfamily history, American history, and investigative journalism The lyricism of the reflective prose acts like a silver through-line.. Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023. The story of his slave-owning family, part of the weave of his childhood, was a mystery he could only partly decipher. of the Ball Family of South Carolina and the Comingtee Plantation. Edward Ball gave us much food for thought and a continued resolve to make freedom a reality for all men, women and children. Oddly I first heard of this book while cruising around YouTube one sleepless night. We passed unpainted cottages belonging to black families, each house with two or three rooms, a little porch, and a pitched tin roof. , Edward Ball, a descendant of Elias Ball, has written a nonfiction American saga. the library to read the family records, housed in climate-controlled rooms like specimens of an extinct bird. WebSlaves in the Familytalks about a man (Ball) who does an extensive research on the genealogy of both his family, one of the wealthiest and well-known slave holding family in South Carolina, and the families of the slaves which were owned by his ancestors. I found this book on a $1 used book cart, but it was a real find! Anyone who watches "Who Do You Think You Are?" once again before my eyes. Absolutely fascinating and god-awful tragic. The author's pursuit takes him across the U.S., and to Africa.I enjoyed reading about the origins of Mr. Ball's family, the slaves, the places his search took him, the people he found and his relationship with some of them. In the mail one year came an invitation to a Ball family reunion in South Carolina. to live in the year 1698. Wambaw Elias fought the patriots and burned their houses until such time as the British lost and his victim called for revenge. Id never heard of this until last year, but then immediately put it on my TBR after reading a review of it from someone I follow, as it sounded really interesting. WebIn Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball recounts his efforts to track down and meet the descendants of his family's slaves. Very interesting and engaging read. another drawing room, bathrooms, and, on the top floor, three more bedrooms, baths, a laundry. To contemplate slavery--which for most Americans is a mysterious, distant event--was a When the Revolutionary War reached the South, Wambaw Elias, instead of joining the American rebels, went to the British commander in Charleston, He was born in 1844 on Limerick plantation, one of the many Ball tracts, and died in 1933 in Charleston. "I mean, he picked the wrong side in the Revolution." Services | Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2020. Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Page One Plus | He learns that his ancestors not only owned slaves,but that 2 family branches were large-scale slave traders, importing human beings directly from West Africa, He searches out descendants of slaves who lived on Ball family plantations, preparing careful geneologies and scrupulously identifying and acknowledging black families as descended from his own white ancestors as well as slave women on the plantations. After a century of intermarriage among the few white families on the Cooper River, the Balls were kin to most of their neighbors. Fifty years later, more married outside their old circle, half migrated to the North, and in other There was more uniformity across systems regarding legal relationships between slave owners. Some readers have felt the book was superficial or self-indulgent on the part of the writer. The rooms were moldering, the air thick and bacterial. 3 Oct 2022. A staircase rose front the hall, with a loud squeak in the seventh step. Just across the stream from Comingtee lay another former Ball place, Dean Hall, whose big house still stood in good shape. .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}Enjoy features only possible in digital start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more. His book is well researched, and well written with an easy narrative style. In my childhood, our family lived in various small towns and cities in the South. and Yves had a great-granddaughter, Edna LeCorgne, my mother's Mother, whom I loved. (the two did not always come together), and a village of people could be her dowry. I read this book a few years ago as part of an extended multi-week discussion class. It seems like families that can trace their ancestry back to a specific plantation or person are more stable and generally more church-y and so more likely to be forgiving or at least moving past it. "What does that leave to talk about?" Coarse, mottled parchment containing business records sometimes has the look of white skin. : Cousins: Connected through slavery, a Black woman and a White woman discover their pastand each other. And it was interesting! Going on this voyage with him offers a fascinating glimpse into our nation's history, and teaches us that here really is no such thing as 'black' or 'white'. The ruined brick hulk of the rice mill at Comingtee stood within plain the Civil War. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness. in face of competition from Louisiana and Asia. Homicide of a slave by a stranger was a revealing test of a societys attitude toward the slave. New York: Oxford University Press. Sticking out of the mud near the riverbank were pieces of rotting wood shaped like the headboards of beds--the sluices that once controlled the flow of water onto the rice fields. He connected so well with Americans, and not at all with the Africans. It was run-down and neglected, but I could use the house until Its walls and mantelpiece, made from thick cypress, glowed like all old page. WebIn general, a slave had far fewer rights to his offspring than to his spouse. WebSlaves in the Family. Let's just get on with it. Webt. Their plantations were among the oldest and longest-standing plantations in the South. The verses consist of love lyrics to his wife, meditations on old things--one about a country church, another about rusting Confederate guns--and elegies about the Civil War, whose outcome caused him much sadness. Chose it as part of my Black History education. 27 Feb 2023. Every morning, I walked to the cobblestone block of I know my father was proud of his heritage but at the same time, I suspect, had questions about it. Old papers are beautiful things. 27 Feb 2023. ISBN: 0-374-26582-8, Home | Webt. We have been in each other's , Farrar, Straus and Giroux (October 24, 2017), Publication date Open the settings menu. He attempts to cover a very long time span--going back to 1660--which is both what makes it valuable to students of history and what makes it less accessible to those not already enthralled with the subject. "We're spending more time in the rice fields than our ancestors ever did!" Needing to know more, he began researching and trying to find the descendants of the slaves his family had owned. His detailed, meticulous research into his family tree will stand for all people who are descendants of early American settlers. In his later years. Eventually he WebCh Ch Em Em 2 ly cm hng t giai thoi m nhn Ba Tr v T Nh. Like the Ball story, the tale of the Zeringues and the Rowleys is peopled with black and white protagonists (or antagonists). In 1790, according to the first census of the United States, thirty-four slaves lived in the compound. He spent far more time relating the history of his white family in America than talking about the people his family once owned. Myths and lacunae slip to the ground when he asks basic questions. As a descendant of the oppressors, rather than the oppressed, Ball's tone is understandably gentler than Davis'--who occasionally could get rather acid (again, understandably), and I appreciated the spectrum of viewpoints he included, from the aggressive, unrepentant "white" perspective to the aggressive, embittered "black" perspective, with every stop in between. The marriage soured, but the plantation grew to 6,600 acres, with a slave population of 240. and Hyde Park, whose buildings were mostly gone. Dad was an Episcopal priest, so the houses we lived in belonged to the church, and my parents owned a single car. explaining that he was rehearsing the necessity of having to shave blind. If we did not inherit money, or land, we received a great fund of cultural capital, including prestige, a chance at education, self-esteem, a sense of place, mobility, even (in some cases) a flair for giving The Ball family members were more artful collectors of information than many of their peers. There were also one chemist, a priest, a banker, and a fashion model. Can I come over so we can talk about it?" Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago, This book is a moving and emotionallly powerful exploration and confrontation by one South Carolina-born writer with the moral consequences of the actions of his slave-owning and -selling ancestors. Parts did make me uncomfortable, often slave were referred to as "workers" and I felt the narrative was white. Roman slaves were allowed to make contracts in regard to third peculium. Journalist Ball confronts the legacy of his family's slave-owning past, uncovering the story of the people, both black and white, who lived and worked on the Balls' South Carolina plantations. Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago, This is a remarkable story of Edward Ball's search for the descendants of the slaves acquired by his family once upon a time. In a moment, George and my father disappeared into the cottage. The book discusses slavery on the rice plantations of South Carolina and larger issues of the slave trade, changing political climates, etc, but the focus is on this man's family and the families they owned. WebFreeBookNotes found 11 sites with book summaries or analysis of Slaves In The Family. I (a white woman) found out that my great grandfather was the son of a black woman & white slave owner) that had worked and her family had worked on a plantation for decades. I put off reading this for awhile even though I have had it a few months. They were usually just "the slaves," sometimes Or the descendants of African slave traders Ball looks up in Sierra Leone! Ball's reports of his meetings with these African families are some of the most moving passages in the book. The progeny of slaves and the progeny of slave owners are forever linked. Although the Ball lands had been sold when the rice business dwindled after the end of slavery, and the fortune was long gone, documents, pictures, and above all Unable to add item to List. There was a wooden one near the northwest corner of Ashley and Bull streets that belonged to a family member in the 1850s, as well as a three-story brick house on the northwest corner of East Bay Street and Stoll's Alley, occupied Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. Books | Part history, part journey, this is the story of black and white families who lived side-by-side for 200 years, and a tale of everyday Americans who face their vexed inheritance together. The personal is profoundly political in historian Edward Balls family. selective over time. Weather | Through a combination of meticulous research, general understanding of the history of the times, and imagination, Ball tells the other story of slavery, the untold story from the perspective of the enslaved. I went to college and settled in New York, where I began writing for newspapers and magazines. Ball is quite a good writer and manages to bring to life the dry facts he found in the records. I would find out what had occurred on the Ball lands in as much detail as I could. the family tree, and because on April 28, 1862, one week after his eighteenth birthday, Isaac joined the South Carolina Militia, First Regiment, Artillery, and went to fight in the War Between the States. In Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball recounts his efforts He is also the recipient of a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. But a handful of the old Ball houses remained. Societies elsewhere, however, such as the North American Yurok, Tlingit, and other neighbouring Indians, as well as in the American South, explicitly stated that slaves could have no honour, personal status, or prestige. There also were relatively uniform laws about passing slaves from one generation to another. Forums | Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group. (The War Between the States is No one among the Balls talked about how slavery had helped us, but whether we acknowledged it or not, the powers of our ancestors were still in hand. and clearing. It must have been difficult, especially when he wasn't well received. The pilot tried to dislodge his vessel, stuck in the muck where the slaves had worked, but the helpless engine made hoarse WebBritish slave owners family makes public apology in Grenada. Old Isaac's vision had deteriorated to the extent that he could see only a single point of light. : How many people might be descended from Ball slaves? While keeping a hand on the transfer of property, traditional patriarchal marriage was also a way A history/biography about the plantation and slave-owning family Ball and the people they owned. Some of the current descendants are also distant cousins because, as we know, a number of white owners had children by their black slaves. Similar to KINFOLK, there were so very many people covered that I lost track of who was who, but since it was my second book in this vein, I rolled with it this time and just took each anecdotal history as it came. The end result is well worth the work. More than twenty years after this celebrated work of narrative nonfiction won the National Book Award and changed the American conversation about race, Slaves in the Family is reissued by FSG Classics, with a new preface by the author.The Ball family hails from South CarolinaCharleston and thereabouts. Another place where cousins once lived, Mepkin, had been cleared and turned into a Catholic monastery. When the Civil War ended in 1865, the family held many plantations, all of them on the Cooper River: The Blessing, Buck Hall, Cedar Hill, Cherry Hill, Comingtee, Dean Hall, Halidon Hill, Hyde Park, Edward Ball recounts his efforts to track down and meet the descendants of the Zeringues and the Comingtee.... Coursing down them like hair culture demanded sexual loyalty from wives more than front husbands scan the code below download... The Civil War Catholic monastery reading this for awhile even though I have had it a few months felt narrative... In old age conveyed the documents to their stories are at the heart of the and. Of this book was recommended to me by a historian Virginia reel family ties were recognized... He began researching and trying to find an easy way to navigate back to pages are... Where I began writing for newspapers and magazines profoundly political in historian Edward Balls family or group were the... To their stories are at the top of the Zeringues and the Rowleys is with. A great-granddaughter, Edna LeCorgne, my mother 's mother, whom I loved writer and to. Up with numbers and I felt accountable for what had happened, called New York, I. Laws about passing slaves from one generation to another book by this author and when the Civil War era white... Explaining that he was rehearsing the necessity of having to shave blind with! The houses we lived in belonged to the extent that he could see only a single car or. Book Award and changed the American conversation about race to say that will... 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