Venture Smith and the business of slavery and freedom
By: edited by James Brewer Stewart ; foreword by James O. Horton.
Contributors: Stewart, James Brewer.
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Amherst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781558497405
Subjects: Smith, Venture, -- 1729?-1805; Smith, Venture, -- 1729?-1805 -- Influence; Smith, Venture, -- 1729?-1805; Slaves -- Connecticut -- Biography; Free African Americans -- Connecticut -- Biography; Africans -- Connecticut -- Biography; Slavery -- Connecticut -- History -- 18th century; Slavery -- United States -- History -- 18th century; Connecticut -- Race relations -- History -- 18th century; United States -- Race relations -- History -- 18th century
Genres: Biography
Description: The family, determined to honor the bicentennial of their founding ancestor's death by discovering everything possible about his life, opened burial plots in the hope of recovering DNA for genealogical tracing. What began as a scientific inquiry into African origins rapidly evolved into an interdisciplinary collaboration between historians, literary analysts, geographers, genealogists, anthropologists, political philosophers, genomic biologists, and, perhaps most revealingly, a poet. Their common goal has been to reconstruct the life of an extraordinary African American and to assay its implications for the sprawling, troubled eighteenth-century world of racial exploitation over which he triumphed. From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: "How I came by my name" / Marilyn Nelson; title: A narrative of the life and adventures of Venture, a native of Africa; title: pt. 1. History; title: The African background of Venture Smith / Paul E. Lovejoy; title: Trust and violence in Atlantic history : the economic worlds of Venture Smith / Robert P. Forbes, David D. Richardson, and Chandler B. Saint; title: Venture Smith and the law of slavery / John Wood Sweet; title: "Owned by negro Venture" : land and liberty in the life of Venture Smith / Cameron Blevins; title: pt. 2. Memory; title: Venture Smith, one of a kind / Vincent Carretta; title: Keeping his word : money, love, and privacy in the narrative of Venture Smith / Anna Mae Duane; title: pt. 3. Legacy; title: The genomics perspective on Venture Smith : genetics, ancestry, and the meaning of family / Linda Strausbaugh, Joshua Suhl, Craig O'Connor, and Heather Nelson; title: Venture Smith and philosophical theories of human rights / Anne L. Hiskes; title: Venture Smith's gravestone : its maker and his message / Kevin Tulimieri; title: "The freedom business" / Marilyn Nelson; title: Venture Smith time line.