Slaves in the family

Ball, Edward 1958- (Author).

Summary: 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. It is an unprecedented family record that reveals how the painful legacy of slavery continues to endure in America's collective memory and experience. Ball, a descendant of one of the largest slave-owning families in the South, discovered that his ancestors owned 25 plantations, worked by nearly 4,000 slaves. Through meticulous research and by interviewing scattered relatives, Ball contacted some 100,000 African-Americans who are all descendants of Ball slaves. In intimate conversations with them, he garnered information, hard words, and devastating family stories of precisely what it means to be enslaved. He found that the family plantation owners were far from benevolent patriarchs; instead there is a dark history of exploitation, interbreeding, and extreme violence.--From publisher description.

Item details

ISBN: 0374265828
ISBN: 9780374265823
ISBN: 0670881066
ISBN: 9780670881062
ISBN: 096558027X
ISBN: 9780965580274
ISBN: 0345431057
ISBN: 9780345431059
Physical Description: print
504 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
Badges:
- Most Copies: 4 / 5.0

Contents / Notes

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 457-484) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Plantation memories -- Masters from England -- The well of tradition -- Bright Ma -- A family business -- Written in the blood -- The making of a dynasty -- Sawmill -- Bloodlines -- "Yours, obediently" -- A house divided -- The width of the realm -- A painter's legacy -- -- The curse of Buzzard Wing -- The siege -- Aftermath -- The preservation society -- A reckoning -- Bunce Island.
Awards Note:	National Book Award for Non-fiction, 1998.

Find similar items by subject

Subject:

Ball family
Ball family
Ball
Ball Familie, South Carolina
Plantation life South Carolina Charleston Region History
Slaves South Carolina Charleston Region History
Slaveholders South Carolina Charleston Region History
Charleston Region (S.C.) Race relations
African Americans South Carolina Charleston Region History
Charleston Region (S.C.) Biography
African Americans South Carolina Charleston Region History
African Americans
Plantation life
Race relations
Slaveholders
Slaves
South Carolina Charleston Region
African Americans South Carolina
United States, South Carolina Slavery and bondage
Slaven (arbeid)
Slavenhouders
Plantages
Sklavenhalter
Historia dos estados unidos
Historia geral (escravidao)
Esclavage Caroline du Sud (États-Unis) Histoire
Noirs américains Caroline du Sud (États-Unis) Histoire
Vie dans les plantations Caroline du Sud (États-Unis) Histoire
Charleston (S.C.) Race relations
Charleston (S.C.) Biography

Genre:

Biographies.
Biography.
History.

Currently available copies

104 out of 106 copies are currently available at PINES. (Show)
5 out of 5 copies are currently available at Athens Regional Library System. (Show)
1 out of 1 copy are currently available at Athens-Clarke County Library.