William Johnson's Natchez - The Ante-Bellum Diary of a Free Negro (Paperback, New edition)

The discovery in 1938 of the diary and personal papers of William Johnson (ca. 1809-1851), a free Negro of Natchez, Mississippi, made possible the publication of this fascinating volume. Johnson's diary offers a firsthand account of a former slave who rose from harsh circumstances to become a successful businessman. It is also an intimate portrait of life and social relations in a southern town in the years leading up to the Civil War. A barber by trade, Johnson was also a landlord, moneylender, slave owner, and small farmer, and despite his colour he became a prominent, well-respected citizen of Natchez. Johnson kept a ledger on the various aspects of his thriving businesses, and in this ledger he also recorded his impressions of the daily occurrences of life around him. ""I am always ready for Anything,"" reads one of his entries for 1845. This dictum is borne out in his acutely observed accounts of births and deaths, weddings and elopements, political campaigns and conventions, races and cockfights, concerts and trials, balls and epidemics, all related with a naive yet passionate curiosity and with the private frankness of a man of colour denied a public outlet for his opinions. In a vividly colloquial voice, Johnson set down the whole of the Natchez scene for sixteen years. No other southern diary provides such a broad picture of numerous aspects of everyday life or reveals so many of the well-to-do free Negro's attitudes on timely questions. It is one of the most remarkable documents in American historiography.

General

Imprint:	Louisiana State University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	September 1993
First published:	September 1993
Editors:	William Ransom Hogan • Edwin Adams Davis
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 44mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	848
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-8071-1855-9
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Historical, political & military Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Black studies Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Population & demography > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Biography > Historical, political & military
LSN:	0-8071-1855-9
Barcode:	9780807118559

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