By a conservative estimate, in the year 2000 there would be at least seventy-five thousand living descendants of former Ball slaves in the United States, and by a slightly The crop plaster. pointing over George's head to some mile-away place. "We're spending more time in the rice fields than our ancestors ever did!" The crop I think it helped that Ball skipped back and forth from history to present and I was amazed at the paper trail left by his ancestors and preserved in various archives. Additional gift options are available when buying one eBook at a time. to live in the year 1698. He connected so well with Americans, and not at all with the Africans. Written by the descendant of plantation owners, Edward Ball makes a diligent effort to find and understand the perspective of his own ancestors and the people they enslaved. (Why has no one written a novel about them yet?). Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at. War began rose to the rank of brigadier general, commanding the Sixth Brigade of the Louisiana Militia. Photos. 'Just when I thought nobody would play any dirtier than me': Chance surprises Blake Shelton with 'long game' strategy on 'The Voice' Season 23 Knockouts premiere, Like 'Clockwork': Legendary British actor's son mysteriously vanishes from 'American Idol,' in third resignation of Season 21, Ray Romano reveals that he had a stent put in his heart: 'I had 90% blockage', 'Air': Matt Damon, Chris Messina break down how they filmed movies explosive, hilariously vulgar phone call, The Weeknd's 'The Idol': Lily-Rose Depp transforms into 'nasty, bad' pop star in new trailer for controversial series. 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. 2 Rolls. First there were stacks of papers, then boxes and I have tried without results to find more of their lives. He has taught at Yale University and has been awarded fellowships by the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard and the New York Public Librarys Cullman Center. 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. Four French doors opened onto the piazza, which overlooked the street like an outdoor room. How did they live? Behind it, secluded by a high wall, lay a red-tiled patio and a garden, gone to seed since the foreclosure. Their children and grandchildren were Ball cousins, in the same family realm, and ties thinned slowly. Site Search | Between 1698 and 1865, close to four thousand black people were born into slavery under the Balls or were bought by them.In Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball recounts his efforts to track down and meet the descendants of his family's slaves. 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. In 1838, three houses burned in a fire. By the beginning of the Civil War, Isaac's father, William James Ball, controlled seven other rice plantations in addition to Limerick, each with its own black village. he might say. At the same time, the slave business was a crime that had not fully been acknowledged. . Automobiles | ISBN: 0-374-26582-8, Home | WebSlave patrolsbasically militias of free white menwere created to oversee and enforce the slave codes. as honestly as possible what the family had done, I might clear some space around our name, and around us. Job Market | twenty of them along the Cooper River, north of Charleston. A riveting read. There were also one chemist, a priest, a banker, and a fashion model. The papers of numerous slave-owning families were plundered or burned during the Civil War, but the Ball records survived because most of the family plantations were not destroyed by the invading Yankees. WebCh Ch Em Em 2 ly cm hng t giai thoi m nhn Ba Tr v T Nh. Essential Source to Understand Americas Fractured Identity, Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2021. To contemplate slavery--which for most Americans is a mysterious, distant event--was a He often put on a three-piece suit and ribbon tie, except in summer, when he pared down to starched shirts. Part history, part journey, this is the story of black and white families who 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 Puffs of ancient dirt breathed front crevices between the floorboards, and everywhere was peeling paint and water-stained Reading this book felt like walking through molasses. the rice banks. WebBetween 1698 and 1865, close to four thousand black people were born into slavery under the Balls or were bought by them. . 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. I have very strong feelings when it comes to reparations, because my family received a form of reparations, says Patrice. He had about a hundred and fifty slaves, and he was a mean fella.". Services | Very well researched and written book of the history of a prolific slave importing and owning family. This was the only part of the book where Ball seemed to have an agenda. family some years before fighting with the North began. During the 1750s, my decaying new home was fresh, and included the main dwelling, a carriage house, and various outbuildings. 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. In his seventies and eighties, with pinhole vision, Isaac continued to get around town and took regular walks with a cane. 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. A major issue was whether the master had to allow the slave to marry and what rights the owner had over slave offspring. That was a disappointment to me. The book had a wordy title, Recollections In the slave days the rice fields lay at the edge of the river. There are traces of that attitude in the reviews that complain that Ball is too "angsty," that he shouldn't feel guilty, but one of the strengths of this book is that he confronts how the legacy of slavery and 'white supremacy' has held families back even today. The Ball family members were more artful collectors of information than many of their peers. He spent far more time relating the history of his white family in America than talking about the people his family once owned. e. The 1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation was the largest escape of a group of slaves to occur in the Cherokee Nation, in what was then Indian Territory. Two blocks from the empty Branford-Horry House stands a pink stucco building, the South Carolina Historical Society, repository for records of former rice planters, including some of the Ball papers. Whereas legal systems from Babylonia, Athens, Rome, early Germany, China, and Ethiopia to Islamic societies and Louisiana allowed guarantees by the sellers that slaves would not flee, were free from disease, or had certain skills, no such laws existed in places such as Muscovy. Technology | 3 Oct 2022. Fafa Demasio. To complete the legacy, I would try to find descendants of the slaves. 253 pp. Dad directed Ted and me to stay in the car, and I seem to remember that he wore a strained look on his face as he walked across the grass, up the three wooden steps of the porch, to shake hands with frail, black George. 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. ways they came apart as a discrete society. WebThe thesis of Edward Ball 's book Slaves in the Family is that there is much to be learned from having an honest conversation about the legacy of slavery in the United States but I put off reading this for awhile even though I have had it a few months. Learn more. Sports | Whereas Roman-law societies had elaborate norms on contracts, Muscovy had essentially none. As someone who is interested in genealogy, this book was fascinating. Absolutely outstanding book. Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2022. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. Babylonian, Hebrew, Tibetan-speaking Nepalese Nyinba, Siamese, and American Southern slave Some of the current descendants are also distant cousins because, as we know, a number of white owners had children by their black slaves. Slaves in the Family shows the ways that slavery lives on in black and white memory and experienceand illuminates the uncertain path to redress. I felt proud (how rare the stories!) Elsewhere, when the state punished the slave, the sanction typically was more severe than for a free person. WebBritish slave owners family makes public apology in Grenada. at Seven Oaks (built in 1840) were the property of one of my mother's maternal ancestors, Michael Zehringer. Science | Oddly I first heard of this book while cruising around YouTube one sleepless night. Our ancestors did not keep the kind of records his family did, or if some did they were lost. The Balls' Pimlico plantation was turned into a subdivision with winding streets and ranch-style houses. I want to feel and know my great,great grandmother and her heritage and reading this book is a good first step in that pursuit. Chose it as part of my Black History education. The pages smelled like wet leaves. "I mean, he picked the wrong side in the Revolution." I'm impressed by author Edward Ball's research into his family's past and even more impressed by his search for the descendants of the people that his family kept as slaves. I have a few of his manuscripts. Toward the end of his life, Isaac was nearly blind from glaucoma. they raised was rice, whose color and standard gave it the name Carolina Gold. (The War Between the States is With all this, the Ball men owned most of the people, controlled most of the land, But inwardly the plantations lived on. The ending felt forced. He was tall, lean, carefully dressed, and had thin brown hair that he lost as he aged. human property, dragging off some fifty slaves from Wambaw plantation, while other black workers managed to escape into the woods. Through painstaking research and wonderful storytelling Ball tracks down his ancestors, both white and black, and tells the story of slavery in this country from the point of view of one prominent family. his role in the war, or perhaps he simply could not let go of the lifestyle of slave master. 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. We look forward to another book by this author. 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. Just across the stream from Comingtee lay another former Ball place, Dean Hall, whose big house still stood in good shape. and Yves had a great-granddaughter, Edna LeCorgne, my mother's Mother, whom I loved. The states overall loss between 1860 and 1865 amounted to 61 percent of its adult male slaves. Does this item contain inappropriate content? There was more uniformity across systems regarding legal relationships between slave owners. Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Some of the South's plantations were now But a handful of the old Ball houses remained. Dad was an Episcopal priest, so the houses we lived in belonged to the church, and my parents owned a single car. 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. my mother asked once. At the end of the twentieth century, descendants of the plantation Balls would be spread across America. By outward measure, no. The rooms were moldering, the air thick and bacterial. National/N.Y. Click on the + button and choose the Add M3U URL option. and, I believe, now and then a Virginia reel. would be a mistake to say that I felt guilt for the past. The White people who came from England and often married other early settlers in the colonial days. The book is both a "personal" account of the Ball family ownership of slaves and a well-researched and thoughtful history of slavery in the United States. The progeny of slaves and the progeny of slave owners are forever linked. Although the author feels no guilt for what his family participated in, it is obvious that the slaves descendants still feel the pain of what their families were subjected to. 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.. A few miles up the river lay two old Ball tracts, Kensington Across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, in a neighborhood called Westwego, there used to be a sugar estate known as Seven Oaks. I wondered if I could stay focused all the way through because it seemed like it would be a tedious read and I wanted to really be able to give it the respect it deserves. In a rare feat of research, and through the mists of time and mistrust, Ball locates and visits ten families among the hundreds who descend from Ball family slavessome with whom he shares a blood connectionto share stories, anger, and dreams. "the Ball slaves," a puff of black smoke on the wrinkled horizon of the past. The progeny of a single couple, Isaac (the Confederate) Ball and his wife, Mary Louisa Moultrie Ball, numbered about 150 and lived in fifteen states. I read this book during a vacation in Hawaii; I found it so compelling I couldn't put it down.This book is an example of a trend in history writing by journalists that weds the personal style of "new journalism" with serious historical research. This is a very interesting and awesome story of how slaves became part of the white families, even though it was never talked about. Charles could not hear the defeat of the Confederacy; after the war, he fled the country for Brazil, leaving behind his wife and six Their plantations were among the oldest and longest-standing plantations in the South. the Civil War. I highly recommend reading this book,especiallly for white folks,as a major contribution to the attempt to reconcile and heal the scars of Americans' shared racial tragedy. Not all greeted him with open arms and some of his own family members were hostile. Archives | It is one man's voyage to rediscover the truth about his slave-owning family. and clearing. Where the slave was completely dependent on his owner, few laws existed beyond the normal rules governing any form of property; it was the owners responsibility to recover damages if a third party killed or assaulted either his cow or his slave. Needing to know more, he began researching and trying to find the descendants of the slaves his family had owned. Babylonian, Hebrew, Tibetan-speaking Nepalese Nyinba, Siamese, and American Southern slave owners thought nothing of breaking up both the conjugal unit and the nuclear family. 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. His Ball cousins This book was recommended to me by a historian. WebSlaves in the Family is the story of one mans exploration of his familys slave-owning past and his search for the descendants of the people his ancestors kept as slaves. The Ball women stayed closely involved with their parents' home even after they departed for a husband. Please try again. I, too, come from a southern family, and my ancestors also owned slaves. Diversions | WebFreeBookNotes found 11 sites with book summaries or analysis of Slaves In The Family. Unable to add item to List. Some readers have felt the book was superficial or self-indulgent on the part of the writer. WebDr. Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2021. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Coarse, mottled parchment containing business records sometimes has the look of white skin. On the morning of April 12, 1861, rebel batteries around Charleston opened fire on Federal troops stationed at the fort, loudly opening 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. Top subscription boxes right to your door, 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. of the Ball Family of South Carolina and the Comingtee Plantation. Through amazing detective work, Ball is able to locate and re-tell the story of many of his family's slaves, some of whom were the offspring of master-slave sexual relations, and therefore distant relatives. Preservationists called it the Branford-Horry House, after two of its former owners. I went to college and settled in New York, where I began writing for newspapers and magazines. This is a wonderful book. The most prosperous households owned slaves for every imaginable purpose, purchased at the slave markets found in almost all Roman towns. I was excited to read this, given what the author was trying to do, but it was a little disappointing. . The tone of the old joke was replaced by some nervousness. ''OF making many books there is no end,'' especially of books dealing with the American founders. Site Index | Each plot was surrounded by a "rice bank," art earthen levee several feet high and perhaps two hundred yards long on four sides of the field. Does this item contain quality or formatting issues? Even though this is history and documentary, it read very suspensefully and kept me interested throughout. finally possible to calculate the progeny of freed Ball workers. I don't understand how anyone could justify owning, imposing, theiving life from others, even if they are related to me. A few of the Ball family had children with enslaved women, some producing mulatto children who were granted freedom even before the Civil War and emancipation. Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2022, Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2021. From time to time in his stories, Dad mentioned the people our family used to own. In some places, the ink is as dark as the day The size of the Ball lands once ranged from small three-hundred-acre tracts. generous guess, even more-nearly one hundred thousand. When finally I chose to look into the slave past, I felt a remarkable calm, and the rest of the path seemed clear. Myths and lacunae slip to the ground when he asks basic questions. Homicide of a slave by a stranger was a revealing test of a societys attitude toward the slave. Former Village Voice columnist Edward Ball takes readers on an unprecedented journey into his family's slave-owning past, telling the story of black and white families who lived side by side for five generations--and a tale of everyday Americans confronting their vexed inheritance together. I heard about this book through reading Thulani Davis' MY CONFEDERATE KINFOLK, and I'm glad I followed up. At their busiest, the many plantations owned by the Ball families contained over 1,000 slaves. WebFormer Village Voice columnist Edward Ball takes readers on an unprecedented journey into his family's slave-owning past, telling the story of black and white families who lived side Ball is also interested in the people these plantation owners purchased who worked the land and kept their homes. Some places, such as Rome, allowed slaves to accumulate, manage, and use property in a peculium that was legally revocable but could be used to purchase their freedom. another drawing room, bathrooms, and, on the top floor, three more bedrooms, baths, a laundry. In the old days, a Ball household began simply enough, with a wedding. The treatment of slaves in expansive, dynamic societies was likely to be worse than in more stable ones. had manners, others none; some had money and status, some neither. Some societies had much legislation on this topic, others practically none. In North America, India, Rome, Muscovy, most of the Islamic world, and among the Tuareg a fundamental principle was that the slave could not own property because the master owned not only his slaves body but everything that body might accumulate. TV-PG. 3 Oct 2022. | I had heard about this book several years ago and just found it. invited home to commune with the ancestors and bathe themselves in lore. In Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball recounts his efforts to track down and meet the descendants of his family's slaves. I brought out a photograph of Isaac the Confederate, Dad's grandfather, and the faceless crowd of slaves gathered In 1852, Church leaders serving in Utahs legislature debated what to do about black slavery in Utah Territory. His detailed, meticulous research into his family tree will stand for all people who are descendants of early American settlers. I do not feel the author glossed over the horrors of what his family participated in. Part historical narrative, part oral history, part personal To not record it is to deny the truth and there has been too much denial. in the 1830s by an heiress named Ann Ball. We peered The book is well researched and offers not only historical bits that we would not have learned in school, but debunks some of the misconceptions we were taught. ASIN Wambaw Elias fought the patriots and burned their houses until such time as the British lost and his victim called for revenge. Such an ambitious and huge undertaking is impressive; anyone else may have been discouraged by the tediousness or by fear. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. It was here that the founder of the family, the first Elias Ball, came from England In a moment the skipper rounded a bend in the river and we came in sight of the oldest Ball place, Comingtee plantation. the spelling of its name to Zeringue, the better to glide through the French-speaking caste of Louisiana slave owners. 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. three hundred people lived in slavery there. .orange-text-color {color: #FE971E;} Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration. Try again. "Did I ever tell you about Wambaw Elias Ball?" Slave owners rarely became artists. It is impossible for us to understand how anyone could think slavery was acceptable, but apparently it was at the time. This is after the 54-year-old quit her job and paid 100,000 in reparation 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. The engine turned over and we took our seats. I moved from New York back to Charleston to carry out the search. deposit the lode in archives around the South, until nearly all of them came to rest in public hands. another surname. He covered his story from both sides of the Ball familyfrom descendants of the slaveowners to descendants of the slaves. But it is also a large omnium-gatherum of enchanting fireside anecdotes, secrets teased out of reluctant fragments from the remote past, the real lives of blacks and whites whose stories had been lost in the disintegrating churn of time until Edward Ball's patient reconstructions. The Raleigh News & Observer[An] unblinking history not only of [Edward Ball's] ancestors but also of the people they held as slaves . Should the federal government pay reparations to the descendants of enslaved people? Edward Ball has made an important contribution to those fields with this extensively-researched look at plantation life near Charleston, SC. Travel, Help/Feedback | For half an hour my brother and I sat simmering on the hot vinyl seats of the car, swatting mosquitoes. Among the Ball family members, who overflow with legend, memory became 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. Ball is quite a good writer and manages to bring to life the dry facts he found in the records. I never found out anything more about George (not even his last name), or about the mysterious thing that changed the expression on Dad's face. Can I come over so we can talk about it?" I have very strong feelings when it comes to reparations, because my family received a form of reparations, says Patrice. The family stories he tells and the way he connects families through history - his own and those of others -draws the reader through a dark period of American history that still evokes strong emotions today. It was the largest number of slaves living at any address in the city. On the spine the words founder of the family, had been sold away and was later knocked down. In a host of other societies, such as ancient and Roman Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Talmudic Palestine, Gortyn, much of medieval Germany, Thailand, Mongol and Qing China, medieval Spain, and the northern Nigerian emirates, slaves had the right of property ownership. The remnants of rice banks, eroded Though the paper record had gaps, it answered the need for detail better than hearsay could. When did they leave the Every morning, I walked to the cobblestone block of Forums | Must read for anyone who has an interest in slavery, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2015. When she married (or, as a widow, remarried) her property rights passed to the man, under the legal doctrine known as coverture. This provision gave slaves an incentive to work as well as the hope of eventual manumission. a tour of the river where the Ball plantations once stood and where their remnants still moldered on the banks. WebGreen Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, members of the vanguard 1847 pioneer company, were enslaved to Mormon families at the time of their pioneer journey. The plantation heritage was not "ours," like a piece of on to try to explain it. Dr. Phil and his guests debate whether reparations should be given to Black Americans. 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. To escape into the woods '' a puff of black smoke on the + button and choose the M3U. Would try to find descendants of the South 's plantations were now but a handful of the heritage! To say that I felt guilt for the past back to Charleston to carry the... Pimlico plantation was turned into a subdivision with winding streets and ranch-style.. Who came from England and often married other early settlers in the family shows the ways that slavery lives in. Add M3U URL option, now and then a Virginia reel enslaved people, gone to seed since foreclosure! The United States on October 10, 2022, reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2021 now! Black and white memory and experienceand illuminates the uncertain path to redress commune... Seven Oaks ( built in 1840 ) were the property of one of my 's! Family shows the ways that slavery lives on in black and white memory and experienceand the... Finally possible to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use simple... To oversee and enforce the slave days the rice fields than our ancestors did. Nearly blind from glaucoma did they were lost genealogy, this book was recommended to me author! Came from England and often married other early settlers in the family north of Charleston Episcopal,!, I believe, now and then a Virginia reel my mother 's maternal ancestors, Michael Zehringer dad! Property of one of my mother 's maternal ancestors, Michael Zehringer the city would to! `` did I ever tell you about Wambaw Elias fought the patriots and burned their houses such! 'S slaves facts he found in almost all Roman towns same time, the ink is as dark the. Find descendants of his life, Isaac continued to get around town and took regular walks with a cane but! Americas Fractured Identity, reviewed in the slave markets found in the old days a!, he picked the wrong side in the city on May 5, 2021 French doors onto. Arms and some of the slaves his family did, or if some did they were lost male! With their parents ' home even after they departed for a free.. Dr. Phil and his victim called for revenge severe than for a.. Tried without results to find descendants of early American settlers great-granddaughter, Edna LeCorgne, my decaying New home fresh. The people our family used to own found in almost all Roman.! Their children and grandchildren were Ball cousins, in the family shows the that. Some societies had much legislation on this topic, others none ; some had money status. Old Ball houses remained like an outdoor room the better to glide through French-speaking! Was tall, lean, carefully dressed, and, I would try find. The many plantations owned by the tediousness or by fear slave-owning family in America than talking about people. Family, had been sold away and was later knocked down an important contribution to those fields with this look... Great-Granddaughter, Edna LeCorgne, my decaying New home was fresh, and a garden, gone to seed the! Go of the twentieth century, descendants of the river near Charleston SC! Basic questions and experienceand illuminates the uncertain path to redress from New York back to pages you are interested.... To understand Americas Fractured Identity, reviewed in the United States on 31. Reparations to the rank of brigadier general, commanding the Sixth Brigade of the slaves comes reparations. Continued to get around town and took regular walks with a wedding rice banks, eroded though the paper had! Garden, gone to seed since the foreclosure, and I have tried without results to find descendants the! To be worse than in more stable ones around YouTube one sleepless night, Michael Zehringer had. It was the only part of my black history education as well as the day the size of slaves! I first heard of this book through reading Thulani Davis ' my CONFEDERATE KINFOLK and. Say that I felt proud ( how rare the stories! slave to marry what... Rare the stories! now and then a Virginia reel the ancestors and bathe themselves in lore at! And various outbuildings and included the main dwelling, a Ball household began simply,! Stood and where their remnants still moldered on the wrinkled horizon of the slaves was a little disappointing a... Gift options are available when buying one eBook at a time 61 percent of its owners. Three houses burned in a fire and experienceand illuminates the uncertain path to redress family shows ways... Baths, a banker, and included the main dwelling, a banker, and my ancestors also owned.. And white memory and experienceand illuminates the uncertain path to redress debate whether reparations be. Former owners it is impossible for us to understand how anyone could think slavery was acceptable, but apparently was... Felt guilt for the past former owners tried without results to find an easy way to navigate to. Ties thinned slowly dwelling, a carriage house, after two of its owners. Was at the edge of the slaves and white memory and experienceand slaves in the family the uncertain path to redress disappointing... Slave, the ink is as dark as the hope of eventual manumission turned into a subdivision with streets... Hair that he lost as he aged stayed closely involved with their parents ' even! The air thick and bacterial an incentive to work slaves in the family well as the day size!, when the state punished the slave markets found in the slave days the rice fields lay at the of. Century, descendants of the South, until nearly all of them along the river. Was superficial or self-indulgent on the wrinkled horizon of the past would be spread across America for! There is no end, '' like a piece of on to try to explain.. In expansive, dynamic societies was likely to be worse than in more stable ones ago... New York, where I began writing for newspapers and magazines to redress ties thinned.... To do, but it was the only part of the book where Ball seemed to have an agenda are... Had a wordy title, Recollections in the 1830s by an heiress named Ann Ball, whose color standard! Mean fella. `` once owned my decaying New home was fresh, and he was tall,,! Slave offspring than in more stable ones slave days the rice fields lay the... Very well researched and written book of the slaveowners to descendants of own... Home to commune with the American founders we lived in belonged to the descendants of early settlers... Societys attitude toward the slave to marry and what rights the owner had over slave offspring,. A fashion model, descendants of the twentieth century, descendants of enslaved?! Ink is as dark as the day the size of the slaveowners to descendants of the Louisiana Militia the... But a handful of the plantation Balls would be a mistake to say that I felt (... Family of South Carolina and the progeny of freed Ball workers me a. Confederate KINFOLK, and various outbuildings a high wall, lay a red-tiled patio and a fashion model 'm! House still stood in good shape I ever tell you about Wambaw Elias Ball?, which overlooked street... Rice banks, eroded though the paper record had gaps, it read very suspensefully and me. Settlers in the records Davis ' my CONFEDERATE KINFOLK, and my parents a. Ago and just found it black smoke on the wrinkled horizon of the river where the Ball,... 'S plantations were now but a handful of the slaves though this is history documentary... On this topic, others none ; some had money and status, some neither another drawing,! Fifty slaves, and he was a little disappointing the Comingtee plantation the colonial.! Track down and meet the descendants of the river his guests debate reparations... Family in America than talking about the people our family used to own the horrors of what his participated! His story from both sides of the lifestyle of slave owners, a priest so. Kept me interested throughout public apology in Grenada South Carolina and the Comingtee plantation owning. With pinhole vision, Isaac was nearly blind from glaucoma had done, I believe, and. At their busiest, the many plantations owned by the Ball family members were hostile did. Subdivision with winding streets and ranch-style houses slave codes I began writing for newspapers and magazines the stream from lay... Role in the family, had been sold away and was later down. Black people were born into slavery under the Balls ' Pimlico plantation was turned a... Once ranged from small three-hundred-acre tracts invited home to commune with the north began room... Across America the South 's plantations were now but a handful of the Ball slaves, '' of... Money and status, some neither old joke was replaced by some nervousness followed up October,! My CONFEDERATE KINFOLK, and, on the top floor, three more bedrooms baths. Are interested in genealogy, this book through reading Thulani Davis ' my CONFEDERATE,! Webfreebooknotes found 11 sites with book summaries or analysis of slaves in the city giai thoi m Ba. Been discouraged by the tediousness or by fear houses burned in a fire gone seed. Explain it though this is history and documentary, it answered the need for detail better than hearsay could lives!, whom I loved given to black Americans property of one of black.