Mississippi in Africa
by Alan Huffman

Bargain Book at 65% off

Description:

The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia Today.

When a wealthy Mississippi cotton planter named Isaac Ross died in 1836, his will decreed that his plantation, Prospect Hill, should be liquidated and the proceeds from the sale be used to pay for his slaves’ passage to the newly established colony of Liberia in western Africa. Ross’s heirs contested the will for more than a decade in the state courts and legislature—prompting a deadly revolt in which a group of slaves burned Ross’s mansion to the ground—but the will was ultimately upheld. The slaves then emigrated to their new home, where they battled the local tribes and built vast plantations with Greek Revival mansions in a region the Americo-Africans renamed “Mississippi in Africa.” The seeds of resentment sown over a century of cultural conflict between the colonists and tribal peoples would explode in the late twentieth century, begetting a civil war that rages in Liberia to this day.

In the award-winning tradition of Slaves in the Family, this enthralling work traces an epic legacy that sweeps from the slave quarters of the antebellum South to the war-ravaged streets of modern-day Monrovia. Tracking down Prospect Hill’s living descendants, deciphering a history ruled by rumor, and delivering the complete chronicle in riveting prose, journalist Alan Huffman has rescued a lost chapter of American history whose aftermath is far from over.

Mississippi in Africa
by Alan Huffman

ISBN: 9781592400447
ISBN-10: 1592400442
Publisher: Gotham Books (Penguin Group)
Publication Date: 2004
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Book Type: New Bargain Book
Condition: New, Has a remainder mark

Bargain books may be overstocks (remainders) or publisher returns. These books are new, not used, but may have a mark (usually a line or a dot) on the top or bottom edge. Some may also exhibit slight shelf wear.