Dear Master: Letters of a Slave Family

by Randall M. Miller (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Nonfiction

297 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1978

About the author

Randall Miller is a professor of history at Saint Joseph's University (Philadelphia, PA).

Reviews

[Kathi Olsen]

An interesting treatise on relationships between a particular plantation owner and his slaves. He provided a school and communicated frequently by mail between his several plantations with t he slaves that had higher level responsibilities. He also sent some of his slaves to the Liberia colonies and kept up communication with them. None of the white writers letters survive but the family seems to have kept most of the letters from their slaves. Some of the letters are kind of redundant, and some of the footnotes are actually more interesting than the letters they are referred from. There are references to other studies on slave letters if someone wanted to study the subject more.

[Lisa]

In light of the recent news frenzy about the ebola virus, this detailed portrait of the early days of ex-slave colonization of Monrovia, Liberia is fascinating. The back story of American values, manifested by those so damaged by them, against the indigenous culture is shocking and complex. An absorbing read.