Mr. And Mrs. Prince

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. This work is a stunning achievment. Never before have we had anything approaching a full biography of any early New England slaves. Although historians have been giving us more and better information regarding the prevalence of slavery in the north well into the 19th century, we have only had lists of names, locations, and perhaps records of births, deaths, or transfers of ownership. For both scholars and general readers the unanswered questions have been constant: who were these people?,what did they do?, what could they do?, and what were their lives like? Recent histories have explained how critically important slave trading and slave dependent industries on both sides of the Atlantic were to the economic survival of New England, New York, and the rest of the northern colonies. But now, for the first time, we get a look at real people and their real experiences as opposed to fragmentary facts, statistics, or impersonal generalizations. Gretchen Gerzina (ably assisted by her husband Anthony) spent seven years doing incredibly tedious research in recovering the stories of Lucy and Abijah Prince. The Princes spent the first half of their long lives as slaves in and around Deerfield, Massachusetts. Both were freed during the French and Indian War and then moved to the New Hampshire Grants (present day Vermont). Brevity precludes a full description of their event filled lives, but it's a powerful story about race, slavery, freedom, and the struggle for equality. And it happened here...not "down south" and not somewhere else...HERE. After finishing this wonderful book contact your local secondary school and insist it be accessible to students. Because it happened HERE. And if you're in Vermont take a ride to Hill Farm Road in Sunderland (about 5 miles south of central Manchester) and stand by the little church, wander through the old burial yard, and look across the meadows; this is where Lucy Prince lived her last score of years, where she died, and where she is buried. HERE.

Merging comprehensive research and grand storytelling, Mr. and Mrs. Prince reveals the true story of a remarkable pre-Civil War African-American family, as well as the challenges that faced African-Americans who lived in the North versus the slaves who lived in the South.

Lucy Terry, a devoted wife and mother, was the first known African-American poet and Abijah Prince, her husband, was a veteran of the French and Indian wars and an entrepreneur. Together they pursued what would become the cornerstone of the American dreamhaving a family and owning property where they could live, grow, and prosper. Owning land in both Vermont and Massachusetts, they were well on their way to settling in when bigoted neighbors tried to run them off. Rather than fleeing, they asserted their rights, as they would do many times, in court.

Here is a story that not only demonstrates the contours of slavery in New England but also unravels the most complete history of a pre-Civil War black family known to exist. Illuminating and inspiring, Mr. and Mrs. Prince uncovers the lives of those who could have been forgotten and brings to light a history that has intrigued but eluded many until now.

Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina is the author and editor of several books, including Carrington, Black London (a New York Times notable book), Black Victorians/Black Victoriana, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and others. She is the Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor in Biography at Dartmouth College, where she also chairs the English department, the first African-American woman to do so in the Ivy League. She has won grants from Fulbright and the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosts "The Book Show," a nationally syndicated weekly radio program that airs on ninety stations across the country, interviewing current authors of literary fiction, biography, and history.

Distributor: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: 01-06-2009
Pages: 272
Measurements: 8in X 5.3125in X 0.618182in X 9.30oz