Celia, A Slave | Melton A. Mclaurin

Celia, A Slave | Melton A. Mclaurin | A few pages that should be read by all

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Celia, A Slave

	Celia, A Slave Melton A. Mclaurin Avon, 1999 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Celia was an ordinary slave--until she struck back at her abusive master and became the defendant in a landmark trial that threatened to undermine the very foundations of the South's "Peculiar Institution."

Buy or Die!

Everyone! Buy Celia, a slave! She's Celia, a slave! Buy four or five at least!

A few pages that should be read by all

"Yet the lives of lesser figures, men and women who lived and died in virtual autonomy, often better illustrate certain aspects of the major issures of a perticular period than do (others who achieve national prominence)". The introduction my Melton A. McLaurin sets up a well researched and thought out work regarding the life of a female slave, caught killing her owner for raping her over a period of years. The author does two very important things very well in this book. He demonstates in very real terms the hopelessness of women in particular during this sordid period or American history AND he places in a timeline perspective just before the outbreak of the Civil War when tensions were high, especially in her "home" state of Missouri, where the stakes could not have been higher with the question of the expansion of slavery into newly admitted states was being hotly contensted. While it would be impossible to argue that she would ever get a fair "trial" McLaurin astutely walks us through a real defense team doing their best in a time period where ANY notion of fairness is null and void and, specifically, why this is the case.

This book is a must read for any serious students of the "peculiar institution". It is remarkable how the author takes an "anonomous" life and demonstrates how and individual could be and was treated as property and degraded to the depths of our ability to comprehend while weaving in the fast moving antibellum period and the legislation, politics and emotions of the time.

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Interesting but tedious and unstimulating

Based on the content and the depthness of the book, it would be a great book to discuss and read in a college course on African American history/literature.

I agree with another reviewer that this book read like a story out of a history textbook. Although interesting, I think this book would have better served its purpose if written as a historical fictiopn. Plus, I got tired of having to turn to the Notes section for supporting details and background information.

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this is what I didn't write in my essay for the book for HIS103

I feel that the story of Celia is better than the book. I say that because the book can be very vague and too narrow at the same time. The author will go on and on (for pages at a time) about an irrelevant political issue in great detail and frequently makes statements like, "it is possible that..." and "it is unknown what happened..." about Celia's story. To me, it felt like the author was trying to fill the holes left by Celia's lack of historical evidence with other, well-documented events of the time period. I understand some background information is important but that was too much and it happened too often. Despite some of the issues with the book, the story itself is great. I was completely sympathic to Celia and wished that things turned out differently.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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