The discovery in 1938 of the diary and personal papers of William Johnson (ca. 1809–1851), a free Negro of Natchez, Mississippi, made possible the publication of this fascinating volume. Johnson’s diary offers a firsthand account of a former slave who rose from harsh circumstances to become a successful businessman. It is also an intimate portrait of life and social relations in a southern town in the years leading up to the Civil War.
A barber by trade, Johnson was also a landlord, moneylender, slave owner, and small farmer, and despite his color he became a prominent, well-respected citizen of Natchez. Johnson kept a ledger on the various aspects of his thriving businesses, and in this ledger he also recorded his impressions of the daily occurrences of life around him. “I am always ready for Anything,” reads one of his entries for 1845. This dictum is borne out in his acutely observed accounts of births and deaths, weddings and elopements, political campaigns and conventions, races and cockfights, concerts and trials, balls and epidemics―all related with a naïve yet passionate curiosity and with the private frankness of a man of color denied a public outlet for his opinions.
In a vividly colloquial voice, Johnson set down the whole of the Natchez scene for sixteen years. No other southern diary provides such a broad picture of numerous aspects of everyday life or reveals so many of the well-to-do free Negro’s attitudes on timely questions. It is one of the most remarkable documents in American historiography.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
William Ransom Hogan, the author of The Texas Republic, taught for many years at Louisiana State University and Tulane University.
Edwin Adams Davis also taught for many years at Louisiana State University and was the author of numerous books, including Louisiana: The Pelican State. With William Ransom Hogan, he wrote The Barber of Natchez, a biography of William Johnson.
William L. Andrews, E. Maynard Adams Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of The Literary Career of Charles W. Chesnutt and To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Biography, 1760–1865.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0807118559
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # newMercantile_0807118559
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0807118559
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0807118559
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780807118559
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # Hafa_fresh_0807118559
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0807118559xvz189zvxnew
Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. William Johnson's Natchez: The Ante-Bellum Diary of a Free Negro 2.56. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780807118559
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0807118559
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0807118559