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  • An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery

  • By: Rachel May
  • Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
  • Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)
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An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery cover art

An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery

By: Rachel May
Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
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Summary

When we think of slavery, most of us think of the American South. We think of back-breaking fieldwork on plantations. We don't think of slavery in the North, nor do we think of the grueling labor of urban and domestic slaves. Rachel May's rich new book explores the far reach of slavery, from New England to the Caribbean, the role it played in the growth of mercantile America, and the bonds between the agrarian South and the industrial North in the antebellum era - all through the discovery of a remarkable quilt.

While studying objects in a textile collection, May opened a veritable treasure-trove: a carefully folded, unfinished quilt made of 1830s-era fabrics, its backing containing fragile, aged papers with the dates 1798, 1808, and 1813, the words "shuger", "rum", "casks", and "West Indies", repeated over and over, along with "friendship", "kindness", "government", and "incident". The quilt top sent her on a journey to piece together the story of Minerva, Eliza, Jane, and Juba - the enslaved women behind the quilt - and their owner, Susan Crouch.

May brilliantly stitches together the often-silenced legacy of slavery by revealing the lives of these urban enslaved women and their world. Beautifully written and richly imagined, An American Quilt is a luminous historical examination and an appreciation of a craft that provides such a tactile connection to the past.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.  

©2018 Rachel May (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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Simply boring

My goodness, the historian has played a blinder. This is simply the most boring thing I have ever heard!

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