The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
I re -read the last three chapters, as soon as I completed this book. I cant recommend highly enough!
The Lost German Slave Girl is the true story of a woman petitioning for her freedom from slavery in 1830's New Orleans. It is partly a historical narrative and partly an explanation of the laws governing slave trade and ownership in 1800s Lousiana. The author, John Bailey, uses Sally Miller's original court proceedings to tell her story, but also weaves in other relevant cases and information to paint a larger picture of Louisiana slave culture. From the fate of European redemptioners, to the
This book was more of a legal drama than the "legal thriller" is was made out to be. This was a story about a woman who allowed the people of Louisiana decide her fate. Not once did she say who she was. Her only testimony was that she couldn't remember her past because she may have suffered from yellow fever, and here the city was fighting for her freedom and her imprisonment.The book was a refresher on American slavery. It revealed deeper facts that I hadn't known about the history of American
The Mueller family, extended family, and neighbors from Langensoultzbach, Bavaria, immigrated to America in hopes of finding futures for themselves. Instead the hideous voyage over was "paid three times--once by themselves, once by the Dutch government, and, finally, by their own servitude." Over half of the immigrants died on the voyage over due to illness and starvation.As you read this book you learn about slave law, slavery is determined by the mother's status at the time of a child's birth,
This historical non-fiction book is such an astonishing, convoluted story, that it seems more far-fetched and over-the-top than most historical fictions about the Old South - and therefore it comes out as a much more fascinating book than most novels about New Orleans. More than that, because of its subject matter, it is also a very serious study of slavery, that helps us understand how it worked, and shows us how inhuman it was - if we ever needed more proofs of that. Any author could write
Well placed and clearThe author does an excellent job of making the villain in this work villainous although he was ultimately, at least in the legal sense at the time, in the right. That made this really enjoyable. I love a tale of comeuppance.
John Bailey
Paperback | Pages: 268 pages Rating: 3.72 | 1880 Users | 300 Reviews
Itemize About Books The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
Title | : | The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans |
Author | : | John Bailey |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 268 pages |
Published | : | November 29th 2005 by Grove Press (first published December 31st 2002) |
Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Biography. Historical. North American Hi.... American History. Mystery. Literature. 19th Century |
Narrative In Pursuance Of Books The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
It is a spring morning in New Orleans, 1843. In the Spanish Quarter, on a street lined with flophouses and gambling dens, Madame Carl recognizes a face from her past. It is the face of a German girl, Sally Miller, who disappeared twenty-five years earlier. But the young woman is property, the slave of a nearby cabaret owner. She has no memory of a "white" past. Yet her resemblance to her mother is striking, and she bears two telltale birthmarks. In brilliant novelistic detail, award-winning historian John Bailey reconstructs the exotic sights, sounds, and smells of mid-nineteenth-century New Orleans, as well as the incredible twists and turns of Sally Miller's celebrated and sensational case. Did Miller, as her relatives sought to prove, arrive from Germany under perilous circumstances as an indentured servant or was she, as her master claimed, part African, and a slave for life? A tour de force of investigative history that reads like a suspense novel, The Lost German Slave Girl is a fascinating exploration of slavery and its laws, a brilliant reconstruction of mid-nineteenth-century New Orleans, and a riveting courtroom drama. It is also an unforgettable portrait of a young woman in pursuit of freedom.Specify Books Toward The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
Original Title: | The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans |
ISBN: | 080214229X (ISBN13: 9780802142290) |
Edition Language: | English |
Setting: | New Orleans, Louisiana(United States) |
Rating About Books The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
Ratings: 3.72 From 1880 Users | 300 ReviewsRate About Books The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
Excellent treatment of the complicated legal battles surrounding a German girl who was believed to be illegally made a slave. The author creates a very readable story out of sometimes fragmentary evidence, at times alternating between story telling and factual exposition. Along the way, I found a delightful assortment of vignettes that illustrate life in New Orleans before the Civil War. It fails to answer every question raised, but this is not a surprise. Even those involved in the cases neverI re -read the last three chapters, as soon as I completed this book. I cant recommend highly enough!
The Lost German Slave Girl is the true story of a woman petitioning for her freedom from slavery in 1830's New Orleans. It is partly a historical narrative and partly an explanation of the laws governing slave trade and ownership in 1800s Lousiana. The author, John Bailey, uses Sally Miller's original court proceedings to tell her story, but also weaves in other relevant cases and information to paint a larger picture of Louisiana slave culture. From the fate of European redemptioners, to the
This book was more of a legal drama than the "legal thriller" is was made out to be. This was a story about a woman who allowed the people of Louisiana decide her fate. Not once did she say who she was. Her only testimony was that she couldn't remember her past because she may have suffered from yellow fever, and here the city was fighting for her freedom and her imprisonment.The book was a refresher on American slavery. It revealed deeper facts that I hadn't known about the history of American
The Mueller family, extended family, and neighbors from Langensoultzbach, Bavaria, immigrated to America in hopes of finding futures for themselves. Instead the hideous voyage over was "paid three times--once by themselves, once by the Dutch government, and, finally, by their own servitude." Over half of the immigrants died on the voyage over due to illness and starvation.As you read this book you learn about slave law, slavery is determined by the mother's status at the time of a child's birth,
This historical non-fiction book is such an astonishing, convoluted story, that it seems more far-fetched and over-the-top than most historical fictions about the Old South - and therefore it comes out as a much more fascinating book than most novels about New Orleans. More than that, because of its subject matter, it is also a very serious study of slavery, that helps us understand how it worked, and shows us how inhuman it was - if we ever needed more proofs of that. Any author could write
Well placed and clearThe author does an excellent job of making the villain in this work villainous although he was ultimately, at least in the legal sense at the time, in the right. That made this really enjoyable. I love a tale of comeuppance.
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