Author Description

Life In The Old South Has Always Fascinated Americans--whether In The Mythical Portrayals Of The Planter Elite From Fiction Such As Gone With The Wind Or In Historical Studies That Look Inside The Slave Cabin. Now Brenda E. Stevenson Presents A Reality Far More Gripping Than Popular Legend, Even As She Challenges The Conventional Wisdom Of Academic Historians. Life In Black And White Provides A Panoramic Portrait Of Family And Community Life In And Around Loudoun County, Virginia--weaving The Fascinating Personal Stories Of Planters And Slaves, Of Free Blacks And Poor-to-middling Whites, Into A Powerful Portrait Of Southern Society From The Mid-eighteenth Century To The Civil War. Loudoun County And Its Vicinity Encapsulated The Full Sweep Of Southern Life. Here The Region's Most Illustrious Families--the Lees, Masons, Carters, Monroes, And Peytons--helped Forge Southern Traditions And Attitudes That Became Characteristic Of The Entire Region While Mingling With Yeoman Farmers Of German, Scotch-irish, And Irish Descent, And Free Black Families Who Lived Alongside Abolitionist Quakers And Thousands Of Slaves. Stevenson Brilliantly Recounts Their Stories As She Builds The Complex Picture Of Their Intertwined Lives, Revealing How Their Combined Histories Guaranteed Loudon's Role In Important State, Regional, And National Events And Controversies. Both The Declaration Of Independence And The U.s. Constitution, For Example, Were Hidden At A Local Plantation During The War Of 1812. James Monroe Wrote His Famous Doctrine At His Loudon Estate. The Area Also Was The Birthplace Of Celebrated Fugitive Slave Daniel Dangerfield, The Home Of John Janney, Chairman Of The Virginia Secession Convention, A Center For Underground Railroad Activities, And The Location Of John Brown's Infamous 1859 Raid At Harpers Ferry. In Exploring The Central Role Of The Family, Brenda Stevenson Offers A Wealth Of Insight: We Look Into The Lives Of Upper Class Women, Who Bore The Oppressive Weight Of