fugivite slaves and abolitionist propaganda ~

[lookingland]

i am on a reading kick (and apparently making up for a lack of posting for a while) ~ whoohoo!

but it's been nice to have time to read this afternoon since i'm in the reading "zone". my confession is that i'm a notoriously lazy reader. i read a lot in huge glurges and then avoid it like the plague the rest of the time.

welcome to the glurge ~ and here's one more for the 50bookchallenge:

no. 35 ~ Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft. published in 1860. this is a short (111 pages), almost unsentimental slave narrative published in England in which no one in America, North or South, gets off without a sound thrashing. a good depiction of how deep-seated prejudice was on both sides of the mason-dixon. a thoroughly engrossing tale of a married couple's trek to freedom with the woman disguised as a white man and the man playing the role of the gentleman's "boy". the conclusion of the book sums up the temperament of the agrieved writer: "In short, it is well known in England, if not all over the world, that the Americans, as a people, are notoriously mean and cruel towards all coloured persons, whether they are bond or free."

ellen craft was the daughter of a plantation owner and his
slave mistress. she managed to pass for white (and a man) in
order to escape with her slave husband in 1848.
working in a library is like setting loose an addict in a crack house. i've picked up several short novels (some tarkington) to take home tonight. i also have on the plate fairfax's Georgetown account and a book about West Point (1850-1861) ~ that ought to keep me busy for a while.

at this rate, it looks like i just may yet hit that 50-mark after all!

: D

Comments

[scarlite.livejournal.com]

I both hated and loved working in a library, which I did for 5 years in almost every capacity possible. I would go home almost every day with bags of stuff to read, watch or listen to. It was crazy.

My favorite thing was when we discarded books and we could take anything home we wanted. My bookshelves are STOCKED with discards. I have an enormous box of kids books in my closet cause I love them and I always hoped to have someone to read them to...

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

the annual book purge is coming up next tuesday (Halloween) ~ i'm totally looking forward to it, but i hear there's a huge run on the collection, that people actually line up waiting for the doors to open. hopefully my interests are obscure enough that i can still get some cool stuff.

: D