The accidental slaveowner [electronic resource] : revisiting a myth of race and finding an American family / Mark Auslander.
Auslander, Mark.
2011
E445.G3 A97 2011eb
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Title The accidental slaveowner [electronic resource] : revisiting a myth of race and finding an American family / Mark Auslander.
Author Auslander, Mark.
ISBN 9780820341927 (electronic book)
9780820340425
0820340421
9780820340432
082034043X
Imprint Athens, Ga. : University of Georgia Press, 2011.
Language English
Description 1 online resource (xvi, 383 p.) : ill.
Call Number E445.G3 A97 2011eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 975.8/041
Summary What does one contested account of an enslaved woman tell us about our difficult racial past? Part history, part anthropology, and part detective story, this book traces, from the 1850s to the present day, how different groups of people have struggled with one powerful story about slavery. For over a century and a half, residents of Oxford, Georgia (the birthplace of Emory University), have told and retold stories of the enslaved woman known as "Kitty" and her owner, Methodist bishop James Osgood Andrew, first president of Emory's board of trustees. Bishop Andrew's ownership of Miss Kitty and other enslaved persons triggered the 1844 great national schism of the Methodist Episcopal Church, presaging the Civil War. For many local whites, Bishop Andrew was only "accidentally" a slaveholder, and when offered her freedom, Kitty willingly remained in slavery out of loyalty to her master. Local African Americans, in contrast, tend to insist that Miss Kitty was the Bishop's coerced lover and that she was denied her basic freedoms throughout her life. The author approaches these opposing narratives as "myths," not as falsehoods, but as deeply meaningful and resonant accounts that illuminate profound enigmas in American history and culture. After considering the multiple, powerful ways that the Andrew-Kitty myths have shaped perceptions of race in Oxford, at Emory, and among southern Methodists, he sets out to uncover the "real" story of Kitty and her family. His years long feat of collaborative detective work results in a series of discoveries and helps open up important arenas for reconciliation, restorative justice, and social healing.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description Description based on print version record.
Available in Other Form Accidental slaveowner.
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Memory, Myth and Kinship. The myth of Kitty ; Distant kin: slavery and cultural intimacy in a Georgia community
Slavery as a Mythical System. "The tenderest solicitude for her welfare" : founding texts of the Andrew-Kitty narrative ; "As free as I am" : retelling the narrative ; "The other side of paradise" : mythos and memory in the cemetery ; "The most interesting building in Georgia" : the strange career of Kitty's cottage
Families Lost and Found. Enigmas of kinship : Miss Kitty and her family ; "Out of the shadows" : the Andrew family slaves ; Saying something now
Guide to persons mentioned in the text
Timeline
Kitty's possible origins
Kitty's children
The Greenwood slaves, postemancipation.

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