Freedom's mirage Virgil Bennehan's odyssey from emancipation to exile / Sydney Nathans.
| Author/creator | Nathans, Sydney |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2024] |
| Description | xvi, 185 pages illustrations, maps 24 cm |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from JSTOR University of North Carolina Press Publisher Collection (Backlist) |
| Subjects |
| Physical medium | illustrations |
| Physical medium | maps |
| Contents | The exception -- Toxic terrain, medical calling -- The best judges -- Freedom bound -- Patrons galore -- I am not certain -- The height of folly -- The messenger -- A broken bond -- The certainty of uncertainty -- Outcasts. |
| Abstract | " Freedom's Mirage traces the exceptional life of Virgil Bennehan, born in bondage in 1808 in Piedmont North Carolina, who rose to become an enslaved doctor on one of the South's largest plantations and to view himself as a friend to Blacks and whites alike. Emancipated in 1848 but required to leave the state to be free, he was sent to Liberia. Though richly endowed and royally welcomed, he found himself subject to new rulers and mired in the worst medical catastrophe in Liberian history. Recrossing the Atlantic, he boldly returned to North Carolina to warn slave owners that Liberia was a death trap. Yet again exiled from his native state, he declared in March 1849 his intention to go to gold-rush California, the one place at midcentury that seemed to offer an open field, even to a man of color. Intrepidly researched and grippingly told, Virgil Bennehan's story reveals the complexity and fragility of human relationships within bondage. Once liberated, Bennehan led a tumultuous life that dramatized the fleeting promise and pervasive limits of Black freedom in the era of slavery-and foreshadowed the future for generations that followed"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-178) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2024022976 |
| ISBN | 9781469682648 cloth alk. paper |
| ISBN | 9781469682655 pbk alk. paper |
| ISBN | epub |
| ISBN |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |