- New Arrivals
Fiction- Historical FictionCrime & ThrillersMysteryScience-FictionFantasyPoetryRomanceChildren’s BooksYoung Adult
- Biographies & MemoirsHistoryCurrent AffairsTech & ScienceBusinessSelf-DevelopmentTravelThe ArtsFood & WineReligion & SpiritualitySportsHumor
Children’s BooksListsBlogGift CardsMy ListsGames- About & Help
- About Tertulia
- Membership & Co-Ownership
- Shipping & Delivery
- Orders & Payments
- Contact Support
- Send App Feedback
- Follow us
- Download the app
The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Somerset Homecoming: Recovering a Lost Heritage
In 1860, Somerset Place was one of the most successful plantations in North Carolina -- and its owner one of the largest slaveholders in the state. More than 300 slaves worked the plantation's fields at the height of its prosperity; but nearly 125 years later, the only remembrance of their lives at Somerset, now a state historic site, was a lonely wooden sign marked "Site of Slave Quarters."
Somerset Homecoming, first published in 1989, is the story of one woman's unflagging efforts to recover the history of her ancestors, slaves who had lived and worked at Somerset Place. Traveling down winding southern roads, through county courthouses and state archives, and onto the front porches of people willing to share tales handed down through generations, Dorothy Spruill Redford spent ten years tracing the lives of Somerset's slaves and their descendants. Her endeavors culminated in the joyous, nationally publicized homecoming she organized that brought together more than 2,000 descendants of the plantation's slaves and owners and marked the beginning of a campaign to turn Somerset Place into a remarkable resource for learning about the history of both African Americans and whites in the region.
Somerset Homecoming, first published in 1989, is the story of one woman's unflagging efforts to recover the history of her ancestors, slaves who had lived and worked at Somerset Place. Traveling down winding southern roads, through county courthouses and state archives, and onto the front porches of people willing to share tales handed down through generations, Dorothy Spruill Redford spent ten years tracing the lives of Somerset's slaves and their descendants. Her endeavors culminated in the joyous, nationally publicized homecoming she organized that brought together more than 2,000 descendants of the plantation's slaves and owners and marked the beginning of a campaign to turn Somerset Place into a remarkable resource for learning about the history of both African Americans and whites in the region.
Book Details
- Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
- Publish Date: Mar 30th, 2000
- Pages: 176
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.25in - 7.50in - 0.38in - 0.70lb
- EAN: 9780807848432
- Categories: • United States - State & Local - General• Cultural & Ethnic Studies - American - African American & Bl
About the Author
Redford, Dorothy Spruill: - Dorothy Spruill Redford is now executive director of North Carolina's Somerset Place State Historic Site in Creswell, the antebellum plantation on which four generations of her enslaved ancestors lived.
Praise for this book
"There are moments of drama, high humor and sorrow in Redford's odyssey.
"Publishers Weekly""
[Redford] tells the story--and it is a fascinating one--with charm and good humor.
"The Atlantic"
"It makes fascinating reading, thanks not only to the engrossing subject but also to a finely tuned, appealing style.
"Southern Living""
"Dorothy's study is the best, most beautifully researched, and most thoroughly presented black family history that I know of.
Alex Haley"
"The moving story of how one black woman, inspired by Alex Haley's "Roots," discovered her family's heritage.
"New York Times Book Review""
There are moments of drama, high humor and sorrow in Redford's odyssey.
"Publishers Weekly"
ÝRedford¨ tells the story--and it is a fascinating one--with charm and good humor.
"The Atlantic"
It makes fascinating reading, thanks not only to the engrossing subject but also to a finely tuned, appealing style.
"Southern Living"
Dorothy's study is the best, most beautifully researched, and most thoroughly presented black family history that I know of.
Alex Haley
[Redford] tells the story-and it is a fascinating one-with charm and good humor.
"The Atlantic"
The moving story of how one black woman, inspired by Alex Haley's "Roots", discovered her family's heritage.
"New York Times Book Review"