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Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. and the Atlantic World: Slave Trader, Plantation Owner, Emancipator
Florida
Book Awards, Silver Medal for Florida Nonfiction
Florida
Historical Society Charlton Tebeau Award
Florida
Historical Society Stetson Kennedy Award
A biography of a controversial patriarch of a mixed-race family
A
controversial figure for his views on manumission and his unorthodox
marital arrangements, Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. (1765-1843) is mostly known
today for his Fort George Island plantation in Duval County, Florida,
now a National Park Service site, and for his 1828 pamphlet, A Treatise on the Patriarchal System of Society,
that advocated just and humane treatment of enslaved persons, liberal
emancipation policies, and granting rights to free persons of color.
Paradoxically, his fortune came from the purchase, sale, and labor of
enslaved Africans.
In this penetrating biography,
Daniel Schafer vividly chronicles Kingsley’s evolving thoughts on race
and slavery, exploring his business practices and his private life.
Kingsley fathered children by several enslaved women, then freed and
lived with them in a unique mixed-race family. One of the women—the only
one he acknowledged as his "wife" though they were never formally
married—was Anta Madgigine Ndiaye (Anna Kingsley), a member of the
Senegalese royal family, who was captured in a slave raid and purchased
by Kingsley in Havana, Cuba.
A ship captain, Caribbean
merchant, and Atlantic slave trader during the perilous years of
international warfare following the French Revolution, Kingsley sought
protection under neutral flags, changing allegiance from Britain to the
United States, Denmark, and Spain. Later, when the American acquisition
of Florida brought rigid race and slavery policies that endangered the
freedom of Kingsley’s mixed-race family, he responded by moving his
"wives" and children to a vast agricultural settlement in Haiti that he
established for free persons of color.
Kingsley’s
assertion that color should not be a "badge of degradation" made him
unusual in the early Republic. His unique life is revealed in this
fascinating reminder of the deep connections between Europe, the
Caribbean, and the young United States.
Book Awards, Silver Medal for Florida Nonfiction
Florida
Historical Society Charlton Tebeau Award
Florida
Historical Society Stetson Kennedy Award
A biography of a controversial patriarch of a mixed-race family
A
controversial figure for his views on manumission and his unorthodox
marital arrangements, Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. (1765-1843) is mostly known
today for his Fort George Island plantation in Duval County, Florida,
now a National Park Service site, and for his 1828 pamphlet, A Treatise on the Patriarchal System of Society,
that advocated just and humane treatment of enslaved persons, liberal
emancipation policies, and granting rights to free persons of color.
Paradoxically, his fortune came from the purchase, sale, and labor of
enslaved Africans.
In this penetrating biography,
Daniel Schafer vividly chronicles Kingsley’s evolving thoughts on race
and slavery, exploring his business practices and his private life.
Kingsley fathered children by several enslaved women, then freed and
lived with them in a unique mixed-race family. One of the women—the only
one he acknowledged as his "wife" though they were never formally
married—was Anta Madgigine Ndiaye (Anna Kingsley), a member of the
Senegalese royal family, who was captured in a slave raid and purchased
by Kingsley in Havana, Cuba.
A ship captain, Caribbean
merchant, and Atlantic slave trader during the perilous years of
international warfare following the French Revolution, Kingsley sought
protection under neutral flags, changing allegiance from Britain to the
United States, Denmark, and Spain. Later, when the American acquisition
of Florida brought rigid race and slavery policies that endangered the
freedom of Kingsley’s mixed-race family, he responded by moving his
"wives" and children to a vast agricultural settlement in Haiti that he
established for free persons of color.
Kingsley’s
assertion that color should not be a "badge of degradation" made him
unusual in the early Republic. His unique life is revealed in this
fascinating reminder of the deep connections between Europe, the
Caribbean, and the young United States.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
January 5, 2015
"To do good in this world we must have money."
Zephaniah Kingsley was a curious fellow. Son of a Quaker merchant, he grew up to be an non-religous slave trader and plantation owner. He had children with several teenaged slaves, but didn't deny his parenthood and emancipated nearly the children and their mothers. He was firmly dedicated to slavery, but also to the right of slaves to purchase or earn emancipation. His life was impacted by the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Patriot War (The Other War of 1812). His former plantation near Jacksonville is a national historic site and includes the oldest surviving plantation home in Florida.
Schafer has clearly done his research and probably knows as much about Kingsley's life as anyone. He does a great job using Kingsley's life as a gateway to the larger history of the titular Atlantic World and the events that he lived through. It seems unbiased despite Kingsley being a man reprehensible in many ways by modern standards. I think many readers will find it eye-opening.
I have two main problems with this book. First, for all we know about Kingsley I feel like we never get to really know him. Why did he end up such morally complicated man - dedicated to a very unusual family situation that flew in the face of many social norms of his time yet otherwise apparently a money-obsessed opportunist who pledged loyalty to whatever nation was most convenient at the moment? Why was religion seemingly absent from the life of the son of a Quaker? Schafer seems to make only a passing reference to these questions or potential answers to them. Maybe the surviving correspondence simply doesn't yield an apparent answer, but if that was the case say so. Second, this book is repetitive to a fault in several places.
Also, it is worth noting the extensive details and use of quotations in this book. I personally found them a bit excessive, although these seem like things that will vary by reader whether they are a positive or negative.
Overall, while I thought the writing was only okay, I think the content and subject make it worth a read.
Zephaniah Kingsley was a curious fellow. Son of a Quaker merchant, he grew up to be an non-religous slave trader and plantation owner. He had children with several teenaged slaves, but didn't deny his parenthood and emancipated nearly the children and their mothers. He was firmly dedicated to slavery, but also to the right of slaves to purchase or earn emancipation. His life was impacted by the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Patriot War (The Other War of 1812). His former plantation near Jacksonville is a national historic site and includes the oldest surviving plantation home in Florida.
Schafer has clearly done his research and probably knows as much about Kingsley's life as anyone. He does a great job using Kingsley's life as a gateway to the larger history of the titular Atlantic World and the events that he lived through. It seems unbiased despite Kingsley being a man reprehensible in many ways by modern standards. I think many readers will find it eye-opening.
I have two main problems with this book. First, for all we know about Kingsley I feel like we never get to really know him. Why did he end up such morally complicated man - dedicated to a very unusual family situation that flew in the face of many social norms of his time yet otherwise apparently a money-obsessed opportunist who pledged loyalty to whatever nation was most convenient at the moment? Why was religion seemingly absent from the life of the son of a Quaker? Schafer seems to make only a passing reference to these questions or potential answers to them. Maybe the surviving correspondence simply doesn't yield an apparent answer, but if that was the case say so. Second, this book is repetitive to a fault in several places.
Also, it is worth noting the extensive details and use of quotations in this book. I personally found them a bit excessive, although these seem like things that will vary by reader whether they are a positive or negative.
Overall, while I thought the writing was only okay, I think the content and subject make it worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review