IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM JOHNSON BORN 1809 IN NATCHEZ MISS. The man who owned him, also presumed to have been his father, emancipated him at age 11, an act Mississippi made very difficult and later banned. It’s a record of loans he made and game he bagged, local events (lots of brawls) and gossip (lots of feuds). In that regard, it’s about as scrupulous an eye-level account of antebellum Natchez as you will find. But it can also be a harrowing read, knowing what fate had in store for its author, and contemplating the peculiar existence of a black slaveholder.

Source: New York Times April 05, 2019 09:00 UTC