"Dear Master": Letters of a Slave Family

Randall M. Miller [Editor]

ISBN 10: 0801411343 / ISBN 13: 9780801411342

Published by Cornell University Press, Ithaca. NY. USA, 1978

About this Item

281pp., maps, b/w illustrations, bibliographical essay, index. Mildly foxed text block. Top edge slightly dusted. Clean and unmarked internally. Dustjacket lightly rubbed with sunned spine with some minor edge wear and chipping to the same.(BH) 3/24.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1711247518653

Bibliographic Details

• Title: "Dear Master": Letters of a Slave Family
• Publisher: Cornell University Press, Ithaca. NY. USA
• Publication Date: 1978
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801411343
• ISBN 13: 9780801411342
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Slavery
  • US History
  • African American Studies

About this title

Synopsis

Dear Master" is a rare firsthand look at the values, self-perception, and private life of the black American slave. The fullest known record left by an American slave family, this collection of more than two hundred letters -- including seven discovered since the book's original appearance -- reveals the relationship of two generations of the Skipwith family with the Virginia planter John Hartwell Cocke.

The letters, dating from 1834 to 1865, fall Into two groups. The first were written by Peyton Skipwith and his children from Liberia, where they settled after being freed in 1833 by Cocke, a devout Christian and enlightened slaveholder. The second group of letters, written by George Skipwith and his daughter Lucy, originate from Cocke's Alabama plantation, an experimental work community to which Cocke sent his most talented, responsible slaves to prepare them for the moral and educational challenges of emancipation.

"Dear Master" affirms that these slaves and former slaves were not simply victims; they were actors in a complex human drama. In his new preface, Miller reevaluates his book in light of changes in the historiography of American slavery over the past decade.

About the Author

Randall M. Miller is a professor of history at Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia. He is the editor of "The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography," coeditor of "The Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery" and "Shades of the Sunbelt," and coauthor of "Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television."