Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia (Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture)

Book Description

In this provocative reinterpretation of one of the best-known events in American history, Woody Holton shows that when Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other elite Virginians joined their peers from other colonies in declaring independence from Britain, they acted partly in response to grassroots rebellions against their own rule.

The Virginia gentry's efforts to shape London's imperial policy were thwarted by British merchants and by a coalition of Indian nations. In 1774, elite Virginians suspended trade with Britain in order to pressure Parliament and, at the same time, to save restive Virginia debtors from a terrible recession. The boycott and the growing imperial conflict led to rebellions by enslaved Virginians, Indians, and tobacco farmers. By the spring of 1776 the gentry believed the only way to regain control of the common people was to take Virginia out of the British Empire.

Forced Founders uses the new social history to shed light on a classic political question: why did the owners of vast plantations, viewed by many of their contemporaries as aristocrats, start a revolution? As Holton's fast-paced narrative unfolds, the old story of patriot versus loyalist becomes decidedly more complex.

Customer Reviews:

Forced Founders review.......2007-07-06

Woody Holton, in his book Forced Founders Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia argues that Americans weaned on the stories of the Virginia elite, who for ideological purposes decided a revolution was needed, are misinformed. Desperation was the true reason that Virginia, and the likes of Jefferson and Washington and the other privileged gentry, moved towards declaring independence from British rule. Their desperation was in response to growing pressures placed on the gentry class by other segments of society. Forced Founders is divided into four parts covering three time periods. The first two parts cover the time period that is essentially the decade after the Great War for Empire, from 1763-1774. The third part covers the years 1774-1775. The fourth and final part covers the year of 1776. In all four parts Holton looks at the Virginia elite and their relations to various parties during that time period. The two parts Holton breaks the first time period down into are the problems that the gentry faced, and the solutions they came up with for those problems.
In Holton's thesis, he states "that the Independence movement was powerfully influenced by British merchants and three groups...Indians, farmers and slaves." (206) Holton uses letters and papers from contemporaries of the time. He also uses secondary sources to fill in the gaps. These sources he uses to good effect. Unfortunately, he only scratches the surface of the pressure these groups placed on the gentry class. One weakness of his research is that he has not found new sources,
but uses existing sources of the gentry class, to explain their relation to the other classes. Even though Holton acknowledges the bias of the elite, he says he was able to get the other groups' perspective. (xxi) While Holton's goal is to show that the revolution was not just a tax revolt, but also a class conflict (206), the book focuses mainly on the economic reasons that these groups were able to affect Virginia's elite society. This focus changes the typical perception that most Americans have of the founding fathers; it makes them seem less principled and god like. They are more identifiably human, as they are shown to be looking out for themselves. The examples that Holton uses are supportive of his thesis, but due to the breadth of the issues associated with these groups, his examples only scratch the surface of the importance these groups played. A second problem is that the Virginia gentry are still the primary focus of the book. Those groups that exert pressure on the founding fathers continue to be relegated to the second tier in importance. A better title might have been Virginia's Founding Fathers: The Economic Pressures That Drove Them to Revolution since most parts of the book deal with the economic effects each of the groups had on the Virginia founding fathers. Besides economic concerns, Holton alludes that another reason for the drive to independence was the founding fathers fear of losing their preferred position in society.
I felt that Forced Founders was a good read though it suffered from its brevity. A more in depth look at other pressures besides economic ones placed by these groups on the gentry would have strengthened his thesis. In addition, despite offering a slightly different perspective on the social elite of Virginia, Forced Founders still has them as the primary focus, continuing to foster the second-class status of other groups, thus perpetuating historians' tendency to consign them to its back page.

FORCED ARGUMENTS.......2006-05-02

While the book is a "good read" and "thought provoking," I have serious contentions with Holton's interpretation and analysis on many levels, not the least of which center on his lack of understanding and/or misinterpretation of the military and Indian issues which he attempts to cite as supporting his thesis, and which in turn causes me to question his other conclusions in "Forced Founders."

First, he apparently does not know the difference between the provincial militia of the royal colony, the independent militia formed at the resolution of the First Virginia Convention (and Continental Association after the First Continental Congress), or the Virginia militia as constituted by Virginia's revolutionary government, the Virginia Minutemen (as different from common militia) formed by the state in response to a resolution by the Second Continental Congress, the formation of Virginia State Troops or the establishment of the Virginia Continentals. To him, all those organizational concepts seem to be interchangeable.

Second, it is true that Virginia's last royal governor, John Murray, the Fourth Earl of Dunmore, formed his "Ethiopian Regiment" by offering freedom to the military age male slaves of rebel masters (not all slaves), but Holton's explanation leads the reader to believe that the project was an overwhelming success. The primary source documents show that it was never accepted into Provincial service, and with less than 100 "effective" men present for duty, and about 60 sick on board hospital ships in May 1776, the regiment was disbanded. Furthermore, they were not Dunmore's only available troops. So how their presence forced slaveholders to support the revolution is questionable.

Holton also neglects to mention Dunmore's raising of the Queen's Own Loyal Regiment of Virginia, which was composed of white Loyalists. It too, like the Ethiopian Regiment, never amounted to much and was disbanded in 1776. But Holton doesn't mention them at all!

Third he mentions the battle of Kemp's Landing (a skirmish, actually) in November 1775, in which Dunmore's "army" (not just the black troops) drove Virginia militia from the field. He says nothing about the December 1775 battle (actually a larger skirmish) of Great Bridge that was a decisive American victory and forced the British to evacuate Norfolk (and Virginia until 1780).

Furthermore, Dunmore's army was about 600 strong, including the white Loyalist regiment, all the Loyalist militia he could muster, plus British sailors and marines, as well as the Ethiopian Regiment. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Ethiopian Regiment ever neared full "establishment" strength of 800 men, so I believe Holton overstates their influence. Also, the American force included Continentals, State troops, minutemen from Fauquier, Augusta and Culpepper Counties (from the western part of the Colony), as well as volunteers from Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties, including one company of "gentleman volunteers," and 250 North Carolina men.

Nor does Holton say much about those slaves who chose to stay with their masters, and how their action influenced decisions to support independence.

As for the founder's being forced by fear of the Indians, his argument on that score is also weak.

First, does he consider the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, which Dunmore negotiated with the Shawnee, Mingo and western Delaware nations in October 1774, when they conceded defeat in "Dunmore's War"? After his flight from Williamsburg in June 1775, the terms of that treaty were finalized between Continental and (Revolutionary) Virginia Indian Commissioners and the same Indian nations in the Treaty of Fort Pitt in October 1775. The two treaties essentially kept the peace on Virginia's frontier (including in Kentucky) from 1774 until 1777 (after independence was declared!). So, Holton's claim that fear of the Indians forced the founders into supporting independence seems to be a weak one to me.

Second, Dunmore did plot to solicit the Ohio Indian nations to attack settlements on the Virginia frontier, unless its inhabitants affirmed their loyalty. However, the party of three Provincial officers he dispatched to put the plan into action (led by John Connolly), were captured by Maryland minutemen in the town of Hagers Town (Hagerstown) in November 1775, and Connolly was subsequently imprisoned in Philadelphia. The abortive plot was discovered when incriminating papers were found in Connolly's baggage, which was the source of Jefferson's indictment in the Declaration of Independence that king was "inciting the savages."

Third, Holton apparently also does not understand the operation of the Indian polities. He fails to mention that the Six Nations of Iroquois, who considered the nations in the Ohio country their "dependents" by right of conquest and "spoke for" them, were trying to maintain their neutrality early in the war. After being convinced by the officers of the British Indian Department (operating from Fort Niagara and Fort Detroit, not Virginia) that it was in their best interest to support the king against "the Bostonians," most of the Six Nations (the Onondaga, Cayuga, Mohawk and Seneca) and their "dependents," (Wyandot, western Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo and others) did finally come into the war in early 1777, when they struck backcountry settlements, according to British Indian Department officers, "from Fort Stanwix (at the head of the Mohawk Valley in New York) to the Ohio" and that the American backcountry "From the Susquehanna to the Kiskismenitas Creek upon the Ohio, and from thence down to the Kankawa [Kanawha] River is now nothing but an heap of ashes."

Finally, I don't believe Holton ever makes a convincing argument that tenants exerted influence to force their aristocratic landlords into supporting independence, and his argument about debtors falls short of being conclusive.

Who Were America's First Freedom Fighters?.......2005-05-21

In Forced Founders, Woody Holton writes about five non-elite groups in pre-Revolutionary America who struggled for relief from a long list of economic and political imperial burdens. Small landholders, merchants, debtors and even Native Americans and slaves in Virginia were affected by a global depression in which the price of tobacco had fallen close to its lowest historical levels, prices of other commodities had plummeted and the credit market had collapsed. Elite, wealthy Virginia gentlemen farmers like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry felt the squeeze but for Virginia's non-elites, the confluence of adverse economic factors became an overwhelming millstone. Everyone in Virginia suffered the effects of the Navigation Acts that restricted colonial trade only to Britain. Everyone was forced to adjust to the boycott of Britain passed by the Continental Congress. Virginia's economy staggered when small businesses and landowners defaulted on their debt, faced foreclosure of their assets and sunk into economic ruin. Holton's thesis is that well-to-do colonial Virginia leaders were pushed to choose rebellion against Britain by these non-elite groups whose meager resources made them defenseless against this toxic brew of imperial oppression and negative global economic conditions.

Perhaps the most powerful force behind the fight for independence was the paralyzing debt incurred by Virginia's growers. It was held primarily by their British merchant counterparts who bought their tobacco, sold them supplies and lent them money. The Virginians' debt was even more overwhelming because it landed on their balance sheets during one of the worst recessions of the colonial era. Virginian Arthur Lee wrote in 1764 that American colonists owed British merchants ₤6 million and British mercantilist policies drained an additional ₤500,000 a year from the tobacco colonies. Virginia's small landholders and business people - and no doubt, their counterparts in other colonies - realized British commercial, monetary and immigration policies favored the mercantilist-creditors back in London. Thus it was that debtors in Virginia became unrelenting critics of British policy, making them a persistent political force in favor of independence.

Virginia land speculators thwarted by British governance were another perpetual burr under the saddles of the colony's leadership, not least because of the unrest and threat of attack they created among Native Americans. Although the Indians ultimately lost the commercial, legal and military battles they fought in defense of their land, their efforts through tribal coalitions to enlist British support were irritatingly effective. One of the unintentional results of the Indians' occasional success against the white land speculators was pressure from them on Virginia's leadership. Independence from Britain would permit Virginia land speculators to move against the Indians, unimpeded by imperial interference.

Like all whites in pre-Emancipation America, colonial Virginians considered black Africans a serious threat to their security. Their fear boiled over when Virginia slaves began to negotiate in 1775 for their freedom with British Governor Dunmore in exchange for military assistance to help control civil unrest. White Virginians who'd been independence-neutral or British loyalists became overnight patriots. For them, the only way to restore order, preserve ownership and protect property was to escape British governance and begin a new governmental regime. It was ironic the slaves' ploy for personal freedom frightened Virginia's elites to support the fight for American independence.

Holton guides readers of Forced Founders through an intriguing but occasionally awkward review of the influence of non-elite groups on Virginia's road to Revolution. Its virtue is its point-of-view; its burden is its less-than-focused scope. In the end, it appears he does too little with too much.

However Holton is to be commended for thinking outside the box. He uses primary sources from the gentry to study Virginia's economically and politically important "non-gentlemen" because, says Holton, their records reveal the gentlemen as powerfully influenced by the actions of smallholders, slaves and Native Americans. Working top down and one class removed, he shows the American Revolution was not just a rich man's war. Historians are well-advised to incorporate such 360-degree-point-of-view thinking in all their examination of primary sources. As they pursue this method, however, they must focus their theses and remain alert to the dangers of scope creep.

A must read for anyone even attempting to study the era........2003-08-30

One of the most common misconceptions of Americans today centers around the revolutionary war, specifically the fact that this war was caused by colonist unrest due to excessive taxation, chiefly in Massachusetts. Fortunately, Holton is able to modify this fallacy, as he presents towards massive strife in the Virginia colony that can be linked as a direct cause of the revolutionary war.
By presenting tension between everyone from debtors and creditors to oppressed minorities (slaves and Native Americans) and the Anglo Saxon majority, Holton is able to paint a much more realistic picture of the times. Readers will be shocked by evidence presented; especially notable is the substantiation of rich landowners actually wanting to exterminate the slave trade prior to the war, almost akin to a sumptuary law, to preserve social boundaries. Also notable is the documentation of how close battle came to breaking out in Virginia as a result of Dunmore's actions, far prior to any serious action in Lexington, Concord, or even Boston.
Although this book makes an interesting read in correcting some of the misunderstandings more than two centuries of time have created, it also works well in conjunction with a study of the rest of the war. When Dunmore's actions are viewed as a precursor to those of Cornwallis, Tarleton, and Clinton, an even more worthwhile and in depth study of the era can be begun.
Thus, whether the reader is just has an interest in the time period or is a scholar striving to make connections, Holton's work is an excellent read. One can only hope that Holton or others can help paint a more realistic picture for the other twelve colonies.

great read.......2001-09-01

Ours is an age when we worry about consumer debt (and consumer confidence), terrorists, and an energy crisis. In other words, when we feel our society a little wobbly it is great to read Woody Holton's book and find similar concerns in pre-revolutionary Virginia. Virginians were caught up in a "web" that included a debt crisis, fear of indian raids, slave uprisings, and class struggle. "Although no one can deny their importance [great leaders], the thesis of this book has been that the Independence movement was also powerfully influenced by British merchants and by three groups that today would be called grassroots: Indians, farmers, and slaves." (p. 206)How we relate to Holton's thesis probably depends on how we feel present day worries influence voting (thinking) patterns.
While the specific subject of this book is pressures that resulted in revolution, the facts presented here could be used to make a wider case about the "web" that every generation finds itself in. What will our consumer crisis, energy shortage, fear of terrorists lead to?
Holton writes well and is to be commended for his presentation.

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Takes a while to get started
Chimamanda Adichie's comments on Unburnable
A Must Read
Not a Fluff Read!
Long Story Short

Unburnable: A Novel
Marie-elena John
Manufacturer: Amistad
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060837578
Release Date: 2006-04-11

Book Description

In this riveting narrative of family, betrayal, vengeance, and murder, Lillian Baptiste is willed back to her island home of Dominica to finally settle her past. Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian left Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose life was told of in chanté mas songs sung during Carnival: Matilda Swinging and Bottle of Coke; songs about a village on a mountaintop and bones and bodies; songs about flying masquerades and a man who dropped dead. Lillian knew the songs well. And now she knows these songs -- and thus the history -- belong to her. After twenty years away, Lillian returns to face the demons of her past, and with the help of Teddy, the man she refused to love, she will find a way to heal.

Set partly in contemporary Washington, D.C., and partly in post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves together West Indian history, African culture, and American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new voice.

Customer Reviews:

Takes a while to get started.......2007-09-07

I took a little while for me to get into this book. I, quite frankly, didn't care about Lillian the main character until I was almost a third of the way through. The most dimensional and complex characters were of course Matilda and Iris. Once the novel's focus shift primarily to them, it becomes a page turner. If you feel like investing the time to get to the heart of this tale, give it a read.

Chimamanda Adichie's comments on Unburnable.......2007-07-23

Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus: A Novel) had these wonderful things to say about UNBURNABLE in the book review section of London's Guardian newspaper on Saturday June 23, 2007:

"I read Marie-Elena John's novel Unburnable on the plane from New York to Copenhagen. I laughed aloud so often reading this wondrously intelligent book about Dominica and the United States and Africa, about gender, class and race, about love and sexuality, that the bespectacled man sitting next to me put his Wall Street Journal down and leaned over to see what the title was. He asked what it was about. I could have told him how it dealt honestly with issues without ever forgetting to keep character and soul as its centre, but instead I told him a tiny anecdote from the book about black women and thongs. And I much enjoyed his blush."

A Must Read.......2007-03-27

This is a great book to kick back in silence and just immerse yourself into suspense, deep thinking, and a few tears. I was just a little disappointed with the ending, but all in all this was a great read.

Not a Fluff Read!.......2007-01-14

I have been blessed enough in the last week to read not one but TWO great books this one being the greater. I will admit I wasn't wrapped up in the book by page two but by page ten I was all caught up in this story. Marie-Elena John is an EXCELLENT story teller. Her words are beautiful and her descriptions come off the page so effortlessly. I could've easily believed this was her third novel instead of her first. I laughed, I cried and I called all my friends and advised them to please read this book. I did not know anything about Dominica before picking up this novel and now I cannot learn enough. This book intrigued me to no end and I cannot wait to read future publishings from Marie-Elena John. This story is not in the least predictable and her knowledge on the subject matter is outstanding! If you are looking for a mind challenging novel that will shock and educate you at the same time then look no further.

Long Story Short.......2006-11-08

Interesting story, you have to continue to read this book and not stop or you might get side tracked if you put it down for too long.

The Magazine Novels of Pauline Hopkins: (Including Hagar's Daughter, Winona, and Of One Blood) (Shomburg Library of 19th Century Black Women Writers)

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Timeless stories in a Turn of the Century voice

The Magazine Novels of Pauline Hopkins: (Including Hagar's Daughter, Winona, and Of One Blood) (Shomburg Library of 19th Century Black Women Writers)
Pauline Hopkins
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195063252

Book Description

First published in May 1900, the Colored American Magazine provided a pioneering forum for black literary talent previously stifled by lack of encouragement and opportunity. Not only a prolific writer for the journal, Pauline Hopkins also served as one of its powerful editorial forces. This volume of her magazine novels, which appeared serially in the journal between March 1901 and November 1903, reveals Hopkins' commitment to fiction as a vehicle for social change. She weaves important political themes into the narrative formulas of nineteenth-century dime-store novels and story papers, which emphasize suspense, action, complex plotting, multiple and false identities, and the use of disguise. Offering both instruction and entertainment, Hopkins' novels also expose the limitations of popular American narrative forms when telling the stories of black characters.

Customer Reviews:

Timeless stories in a Turn of the Century voice.......2000-09-18

When I first saw this book, I groaned. Not because of the title, or the subject, or the author -- I wasn't familiar with any of the above. I groaned because it was an assigned text for the African American Literature class in which I was enrolled. The book is, frankly, huge -- and size is much more daunting to our modern 20th/21st century eyes than it was to our predecessors. The reason for its immense number of pages, however, is that it is three novels bound into one edition -- and to my greater surprise, I was floored by the two I was assigned to read: "Hagar's Daughter" and "Of One Blood".

Pauline Hopkins wrote these stories, as well as the middle one, "Winona", not to be published all at once, but as serial installments in 'Colored American Magazine' 1901-1903. Having never before read stories written for such format, I was amazed by the rich complexity of each plot. Very rarely can I say that "I *never* saw that coming" when reading a novel. Usually there is some hint of plot that we can follow, however intricately-wrought, perhaps because we have seen so very many stories. These stories, however -- like fabled Shaharazad tales of the 'Arabian Nights' -- depended upon keeping the readers hooked on every word, every 'cliff-hanger' that ended a section of chapters. And Hopkins succeeded incredibly well!

While the end of "Hagar's Daughter" is a little too pat (again, perhaps for these jaded late-20th century eyes), the entirety of the novel keeps you dangling expertly in suspense, at some points practically chewing your nails because you desperately want to see HOW the "hero" or "heroine" are going to escape each predicament. The same is true of "Of One Blood," although that story goes even further by introducing near-fanastical elements of mysticism, as well as mystery. Hopkins delves deeply and with tremendous talent and effect into the 'race problem' of the late 19th and early 20th century -- namely, the treatment and self-perception of people of African descent, especially when also of Anglo descent. These issues are often intrinsic to the plot, but they do not overwhelm the plot -- or, more often, multiple plots -- even as they wrap the audience closer and closer to each character and its dilemma.

The Magazine Novels are a collection I will not soon let out of my grasp -- and I will be eternally grateful to the foresight of the professor here at Tulane University for assigning the text. For all the daunting thickness of the book, the language and the stories are well worth an investment of time and money. Hopkins was a true master of the art of fiction, character-development, and driving (and meshing) plot-lines.

Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration (Kodansha Globe Series)
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Living In Living Out

Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration (Kodansha Globe Series)
Elizabeth Clark-Lewis
Manufacturer: Kodansha America
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Customer Reviews:

Living In Living Out.......2000-03-01

This book is a wonderful account of how African-American women made it at the turn of the century. I enjoyed reading how these women made a difference in the lives of the people and children in their families. This book showed me just how strong Black women are. It allowed me to see that they had the strength to go on and face any adversary that came into their lives. Any woman or person facing obstacles in their lives can pick up this book and know that they can makeit. That's what this book did for me. I know that there is nothing that I can't do. It's a book that I will one day want my now 10 year old daughter to rad and pass along to her daughter.

Cathy Williams: From Slave to Female Buffalo Soldier (Great novels and memoirs of World War I)

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Fact or Folklore?
Review For Cathy Williams Book
interesting and well written
A Seriously Flawed Book!

Cathy Williams: From Slave to Female Buffalo Soldier (Great novels and memoirs of World War I)
Phillip Thomas Tucker
Manufacturer: Stackpole Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0811703401

Book Description

Few Americans today, black or white, know about the incredible life of Cathy Williams. From her beginnings as a slave in Independence, Missouri, to her enlistment with Company A, 38th U.S. Infantry, in November 1866, the story of this remarkable woman deserves to finally be told. By disguising herself as a man and assuming the name William Cathay, Williams became a "buffalo soldier," serving in one of the six black units formed following the Civil War. Her story tells us much about prevailing attitudes toward both race and gender in post Civil War America.

Customer Reviews:

Fact or Folklore?.......2003-05-03

There is greater awareness because of the magnitude of this book and
its message. And I'll wager that there are few Americans today, Black
or White, who know about the incredible life of Cathy Williams. This
remarkable story now has a voice.

Once a slave in Independence, Missouri, Cathy Williams lived and
worked in the 'big house' as a servant to its mistress. And though
being a house servant carried greater privilege and status than
that of the field hand, Cathy began to resent the menial tasks she
performed as much as she resented her masters.

After the death of her owner, and having the good fortune of not
being sold to pay debts, Cathy realized that the fundamental premise
of slavery was a lie and this life was not her chosen destiny. So in
November 1866 she disguised herself as a man, used the name William
Cathay, and enlisted in Company A, 38th U.S. Infantry and became a
Buffalo Soldier. As the first and only African American woman to
serve in one of the six black units formed following the Civil War.
Interestingly enough, Williams was able to become a member of the
Army without detection of her sex, and it was imperative that she
keep her true identity unknown. Her adventures took her from Missouri
to the Mexican border where she served for nearly two years. After
her military career Cathy did not envision returning to her roots in
Missouri, plus her heart was now in the West. So she married and
created a life for herself on the Western frontier, as a business-
woman in Trinidad, CO.

There is much contention surrounding the validity of Cathy's story.
Historians claim Tucker's only source about Williams' alleged service
as a Buffalo soldier is based on a newspaper account published in
1876 and that there are no official records in existence to
authenticate her Civil War service. Some believe it was easy for
Williams to get discharge certificates from the 'real' William
Cathay and pass it off as her own. And that 'Far too many of the
speculations about Williams are colored by a 21st century
"politically correct" perspective'.

Yet others offer a more positive analogy, "Phillip Thomas Tucker the
prize-winning author of The Confederacy's Fighting Chaplain tells
this remarkable tale of Pvt. William Cathay of Company A, 38th U.S.
Infantry, who in fact was a big-boned, 5' 7" black woman named Cathy
Williams. This is a unique story of gender and race, time and place.

Tucker's work is a recommended read that reaches across categories,
from American, African American, and military history to Western and
women's history." -- Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ.

Regardless of the controversy, this was a fascinating story presented
more in the vein of a documentary than a novel and it allows readers
to experience a non-traditional, non-typical life for a 'Colored'
woman in the 1800's. Tucker uses this storyline to captivate and
educate, and he introduces a believable character who unknowingly and
unintentionally charted a course for the role of today's women in all
branches of the military. This story vividly brings to life another
chapter of our colorful history.

Reviewed by aNN Brown
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Review For Cathy Williams Book.......2002-07-20

I just finished this wonderful book....enjoyed it very much..One can see all the truly great research that went into this book...This Missouri Author Phillip Tucker has written about 25 Civil War Books..All have best good sellers...I would recommend everyone reading his books....Dr. AJ & Janet Canpbell

interesting and well written.......2002-06-15

I found this book to be interesting and very enjoyable. It is an example of how one woman turned adversity into her triumph. I would recommend it highly.

A Seriously Flawed Book!.......2002-04-06

This is a book that should, at best, have been an article in a scholarly journal or popular magazine. The great majority of the text is what politely might be termed "fluff." There is so little actually known about the subject of the book that the author has filled his pages with generalities and speculations to lengthen to story. The first three chapters deal with Cathy Williams' supposed service with the 8th Indiana Infantry Regiment, which is based exclusively on a newspaper account published in 1876. Tucker admits "no official record existed of her Civil War service" yet takes that article at face value and attempts to find support for it. One aspect of the tale should serve to show how weak it is. Williams claimed to have been with the regiment during the Red River Campaign in 1864. This was patently impossible because, at that time, the unit was home on veteran furlough. Tucker apparently did not research this or chose to ignore the fact since it contradicts Williams' tale.

Again, there is no proof that the person calling herself "Cathy Williams" for the newspaper story had, in fact, disguised herself as a man and served as "William Cathay" in the 38th U. S. Infantry after the Civil War. The woman whose tale was published might easily have gotten the discharge certificate from the real William Cathay and then claimed it as her own. Tucker's six chapters on the service of William Cathay are also almost exclusively "fluff." They are replete with "probablys" and "might haves" since not one scintilla of evidence exists to describe Williams' activities if she actually had been in the 38th U. S. Infantry. Far too many of these speculations about Williams' feelings and thoughts are colored by a 21st century "politically correct" perspective.

Finally, in talking about a doctor who examined Williams and found her in good health, Tucker writes: "It is possible that he had not served in the Civil War or in any Indian War like Cathy Williams, and felt that he was less of a man upon meeting a female veteran of two wars." This and other comments that follow reek of "politically correct" psychobabble and impugn the reputation of a man about whom Tucker knows nothing. He too easily points a finger at "racism" and "sexism" as the reasons for denying Williams' pension application, when the truth is that there simply was no evidence to support her claim. Oddly, Tucker fails to cite Williams' pension file found in the National Archives even though it is available to any researcher. His only source is a journal article about Williams' alleged service as a Buffalo soldier.

African American Woman's Guide to Great Sex, Happiness & Marital Bliss
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The Marriage Doctor

African American Woman's Guide to Great Sex, Happiness & Marital Bliss
Jel Lewis Jones
Manufacturer: Amber Communications Group, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Guide to Becoming the Sensuous Black Woman (And Drive Your Man Wild In and Out of Bed!)

Stripped Bare: The 12 Truths That Will Help You Land the Very Best Black Man

ASIN: 0972751920

Book Description

The African-American Woman?s Guide to Great Sex, Happiness and Marital Bliss stresses the importance of being understood and accepted for who we are; and reminds us that no matter how good our relationship is, the passion always makes it better. You?ll learn how to hold onto the passion that keeps things sizzling in your love life and you?ll be reminded that the backbone of a strong passionate marriage is honesty. Above all, no matter how much you love each other or want to keep your passion alive, it will never survive if you don't put forth the effort to find time for ?loving?. With this in mind, the author gives great relationship tips and advice in the more than thirty very informative chapters, such as: Enhance Your Sex Appeal, Communicating In Lovemaking, Thirteen Secrets To Sizzling Passion and 72 Ways to Love Your Lover. According to Ms. Lewis (Jones), ?Most of us get married for love and expect our union to last a lifetime, and we should expect that. So, it?s perfect when you finally end up with that one special someone. I hope that, after reading The African-American Woman?s Guide to Great Sex, Happiness and Marital Bliss, you?ll be closer to that reality.? The book also includes advice from leading relationship professionals Dr. Grace Cornish and Dr. Joyce Brothers.

Customer Reviews:

The Marriage Doctor.......2004-05-08

This book is packed with a lot of simple easy to follow material on how to get your marriage on the right track and keep it there. It's easy to read and flows well, unlike some guidebooks!If you are looking for a guidebook to give you some simple to follow suggestions on fixing or strengthening your relationship, this book is a worthwhile asset to your bookshelf.

Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley (Great Episodes)

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FABULOUS BOOK!!!
Hang a Thousand Trees With Ribbons
OK book
necessary reading!
Boooooooooooooooooring

Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley (Great Episodes)
Ann Rinaldi
Manufacturer: Gulliver Books Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Encounters with the Founding Fathers
The Secret of Sarah Revere
Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (Awards))
The Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre (Great Episodes)

ASIN: 015205393X

Book Description

Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, Phillis Wheatley--as she comes to be known--stuns her adopted country by becoming America's first published black poet.

Includes a reader's guide.

Customer Reviews:

FABULOUS BOOK!!!.......2007-02-09

This book is called "Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons" and is written by the author, Ann Rinaldi.
This describes the life of Phillis Wheatley before she becomes a famous poet. Nathaniel, the son of the Wheatley family teaches Phillis how to speak English and how to read.
This is ironic, because the daughter Mary, does not know how to read or write. Some of the other slaves are kind to Phillis such as Aunt Cumsee and Prince and others are not so kind such as Sulie. Both Mary and Sulie, in Phillis' opinion are very evil and cruel.
When Phillis starts to write poetry she knows that the Wheatley family, besides Mary, supports her and believes that she can do anything, espicially Nathaniel.
This book just proves that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Hang a Thousand Trees With Ribbons.......2006-12-08

The book Hang a Thousand Trees With Ribbonsis by the well known author Ann Rinaldi. The book is a fictional biography. It is the story of Phillis Wheatley. The events of this book are real, but all the details were filled in by the author.
Phillis Wheatley, originally "Keziah" before she was renamed by her first owner, was a slave. She was born in Senegal, Africa and was captured by slave traders as a child along with her mother and friend, Obour. On the ship to America she experiences great tragedy when her mother is thrown overboard. In America, she is sold to a very kind family. The family son, Nathaniel, teaches Phillis to read and write because of her unusual ability to read a few words on her own with no previous learning. Eventually, she begins to write on her own, forming poetry. Many reject her poetry and do not believe it is really hers, mainly because she is African American. She must go to court to prove that it is in fact, hers. Will she be punished for taking credit for poetry that isn't hers, or will she be honored by African Americans forever because of her feats?
This book was veyr uplifting and inspirational. I would suggest this book to anyone who likes history or historical fiction. This book was a good way to learn without being bored!

OK book.......2006-07-11

I picked this book up off of my shelf, because I am currently awaiting the arrival of other books I order. The last book I read I had also randomly selected and it turned out to be a WONDERFUL book.(Rebels Angels). This book however was okay. I am normally a fan of Ann Rinaldi, however this book just didn't take me in as her other books have. I thought that Phillis could have done much more with her gift. Especially towards the end of the book. She always seemed to taken aback by things that happened. When what was happening was obvious to happen earlier in the book. She was also so distracted most of the book that she failed to see what was their all along. In my personal opinion she cried to much. I wanted to say come on whats happened is past get up and do something about it. If you only pay attention to what is written on the page you won't like this book a whole lot in MY OPINION. If you read between the lines though and you get the meanings and the struggle of this poor child you will enjoy this book. I read this book in 2 days and I thought that what was written had a deeper meaning and by the end of the book I got that. So if you read this book which you may like read the whole book. Don't give up on it because by the end of the book you find the true meaning.

A devoted reader M.A.R.

I have decided that because I am under the age of 13 I am going to write a review for every book I read and sign it with M.A.R or M.R. so I hope on day I will see a review I wrote when I was 12. Just so you people know why I sign my reviews.

necessary reading!.......2006-06-17

First of all, to everyone who complained about this book being long and boring, please get an attention span. I read this book in no time at all, and I wasn't bored once.
Everyone should read this book. I was shocked that almost everyone who saw me reading this asked, "Who's Phyllis Wheatley?" I remember learning about her back in fourth grade or something, which is why I picked this book up in the first place. But I digress. This is a touching story. It's not a saccharine (probably spelled that wrong, sorry) version of her life, it's rather painful at times. And to everyone who wrote about Phyllis being spoiled and self-centered, that resulted from how the Wheatleys treated her and is probably how she really was. She wasn't just an obnoxious teenager, though. She was indredibly intelligent African American woman who expressed her emotions in a creative, productive way.
One thing, though, that I didn't like was how Rinaldi put everything right into your hands. She didn't leave anything to the imagination, didn't let you draw your own conclusions. The symbolism and connection between Phyllis' and the colonies' search for freedom hits you over the head like a brick. But still a great read for grades 5-9.

Boooooooooooooooooring.......2006-06-06

After reading this book, I wished to hang myself with a thousand ribbons. It is a fictional work of junk and a waste of my time. Phillis constantly complains about everything going on in her life, even though most of it never happened. It was boring, useless, untrue, poinless, petty, junk, and all around horrible. It made me miserable and I chose to burn it when I was done. If I wasn't forced to read it, I would've never wasted my money reading this junk. I searched for the audiobook to numb the pain but to no avail, I was stuck reading the whole thing. I pity anyone else who must read this garbage. I suggest you take the money you were going to spend on this and burn it, it will save you time, effort, and will be much more rewarding. Sorry to all who read this book.

Madam C. J. Walker: Pioneer Businesswoman (Fact Finders Biographies: Great African Americans) (Fact Finders)

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Madame C.J. Walker review

Madam C. J. Walker: Pioneer Businesswoman (Fact Finders Biographies: Great African Americans) (Fact Finders)
Katherine E. Krohn
Manufacturer: Fact Finders
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0736843469

Customer Reviews:

Madame C.J. Walker review.......2005-12-04

An excellent account of African American business woman. Good photographs and enjoyable reading for kids.

Beloved: (Great Books Edition) (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)

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Voice for the Voiceless - Noble (and Nobel) attempt
Okay
A Work of Art
She really is impressed with herself
Not the best portrayal of pre-Civil War America

Beloved: (Great Books Edition) (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
Toni Morrison
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Their Eyes Were Watching God
American Pastoral
Song of Solomon
The Bluest Eye (Oprah's Book Club)
The Color Purple

ASIN: 0140283404

Amazon.com

In the troubled years following the Civil War, the spirit of a murdered child haunts the Ohio home of a former slave. This angry, destructive ghost breaks mirrors, leaves its fingerprints in cake icing, and generally makes life difficult for Sethe and her family; nevertheless, the woman finds the haunting oddly comforting for the spirit is that of her own dead baby, never named, thought of only as Beloved.

A dead child, a runaway slave, a terrible secret--these are the central concerns of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning Beloved. Morrison, a Nobel laureate, has written many fine novels, including Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, and Paradise--but Beloved is arguably her best. To modern readers, antebellum slavery is a subject so familiar that it is almost impossible to render its horrors in a way that seems neither clichéd nor melodramatic. Rapes, beatings, murders, and mutilations are recounted here, but they belong to characters so precisely drawn that the tragedy remains individual, terrifying to us because it is terrifying to the sufferer. And Morrison is master of the telling detail: in the bit, for example, a punishing piece of headgear used to discipline recalcitrant slaves, she manages to encapsulate all of slavery's many cruelties into one apt symbol--a device that deprives its wearer of speech. "Days after it was taken out, goose fat was rubbed on the corners of the mouth but nothing to soothe the tongue or take the wildness out of the eye." Most importantly, the language here, while often lyrical, is never overheated. Even as she recalls the cruelties visited upon her while a slave, Sethe is evocative without being overemotional: "Add my husband to it, watching, above me in the loft--hiding close by--the one place he thought no one would look for him, looking down on what I couldn't look at at all. And not stopping them--looking and letting it happen.... And if he was that broken then, then he is also and certainly dead now." Even the supernatural is treated as an ordinary fact of life: "Not a house in the country ain't packed to its rafters with some dead Negro's grief. We lucky this ghost is a baby," comments Sethe's mother-in-law.

Beloved is a dense, complex novel that yields up its secrets one by one. As Morrison takes us deeper into Sethe's history and her memories, the horrifying circumstances of her baby's death start to make terrible sense. And as past meets present in the shape of a mysterious young woman about the same age as Sethe's daughter would have been, the narrative builds inexorably to its powerful, painful conclusion. Beloved may well be the defining novel of slavery in America, the one that all others will be measured by. --Alix Wilber

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

As with the ghost at its center, Beloved has taken many forms--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to Oprah Winfrey's decade-in-the-making movie to this challenging audiobook read by Lynn Whitfield. Whitfield, who won an Emmy Award playing the title role in The Josephine Baker Story, has a tough assignment as she guides us back and forth in time with Sethe, an escaped slave who's still shackled by memories of her murdered child. But, as we shift between Sethe's brutal plantation days and her haunted life immediately after the Civil War, we learn one secret after another until, finally, past and present are masterfully reconciled. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs

Book Description

"A masterwork . . . Wonderful . . . I can't imagine American literature without it!"-- John Leonard, Los Angeles Times

Packaged with French flaps, acid-free paper, and rough front.

Customer Reviews:

Voice for the Voiceless - Noble (and Nobel) attempt.......2007-05-29

Beloved HAD to be written. The African-American tragedy is told here in a way that the slaves could not have articulated themselves - but here their souls cry out. True, Toni Morrison does not quite make this a total work of Art. The devices are too obvious as she fulfills this almost impossible task she has set herself. In this book you LIVE the destruction/denigration of life - in a way I cannot remember experiencing in any other book. The characters, especially Beloved, are symbols - and yet they are very real and quite fascinating too! These are vibrant, exciting people - and Morrison gives them a voice and makes them so real!

Okay.......2007-05-18

I read this book after reading The Known World and March so I had already had a good (better, actually) dose of reading about the inhumane conditions slaves lived under. This was a ho-hum book for me. I thought it was more work that it was worth and I wanted it over with and was glad when I finished it.

I was really struck by Morrison taking you inside the damaged spirit of some of the characters. You learn how they only let themselves love others a little as all things important to them will likely be taken away. You learn the significance of a star or a leaf to someone who has no joy in their life whatsoever. You come to understand why a mother would rather take the life of her child than subject it to a life of continuous degradation and misery.

A Work of Art.......2007-04-04

Get a peek of what is to come next in this novel without knowing you're seeing the future. Morrison's artistic lyrics are outstanding.

She really is impressed with herself.......2007-01-15

The only thing worse than reading _Beloved_ (read my review of the novel) is listening to Morrison read it. She goes so s - l - o - w - l - y, and seems more impressed with her book than the reader. Quite frankly this book doesn't really demand this close of a reading.

Although trite to say, the best compliment a writer can have is having someone else make the text come to life, and this audio book is interesting only as an historical artifact.

Not the best portrayal of pre-Civil War America.......2006-11-30

Beloved is one of the most famous novels by Toni Morrison, America's only female to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Set in the America before the Civil War, the story moves from the slave South to the non-slave North. Free the North is not, as this book depicts, for slaves could be captured and returned down South. The book is conglomeration of multiple themes and storylines. First and foremost is the story of Sethe, a black woman who used to be a slave. Second, the book focuses on her baby who died at birth, who goes by the name Beloved, and the reappearance of the baby as a ghost.

Third, the book examines slavery, racism, and the politics of inclusion and seclusion. In the South, Sethe is excluded from civil society in many ways by her color and the institution of slavery, but being a slave, is an integral part of society in general. In the North, she is not a slave per say, but instead she is excluded from society in general by the ways of white people and their benign racism. The storylines of this book also explore the physical punishments and practices used to enforce slavery at the personal level. Here is where this book stands out from others like it like Uncle Tom's Cabin or Huck Finn. This book could be described as doing for black literature on slavery as what Passion of the Christ did for movies based on the Bible. it is quite graphic with big servings of the natural thrown in. But I would not use this book as a study of slavery and the racism built into it. The text is very confusing and I, the reader, spent much time trying to understand the entity of Beloved, and its use in furthering the story. In fact, I would call this book a tragedy not about slavery and racism, but a tragedy set against the backdrop of slavery and racism. Overall, a difficult book to read and though not boring, is not on my list of great American works.

Madam C. J. Walker: Self-Made Millionaire (Great African Americans Series)

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Madam C. J. Walker: Self-Made Millionaire (Great African Americans Series)
Pat McKissack , and Fredrick McKissack
Manufacturer: Enslow Elementary
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 076601682X

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