From slave ship to Harvard : Yarrow Mamout and the history of an African American family / James H. Johnston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnston, James H., 1944- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mamout, Yarrow, 1736-1823.

Mamout, Yarrow.

Mamout, Yarrow, 1736-1823--Family.

Enslaved persons--Maryland--Biography.

Enslaved persons.

Free African Americans--Maryland--Biography.

Free African Americans.

African Americans--Maryland--Biography.

African Americans.

Slavery--Maryland--History.

Slavery.

African American families--Maryland--Biography.

African American families.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, [2012]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From Slave Ship to Harvard is the true story of an African American family in Maryland over six generations. The author has reconstructed a unique narrative of black struggle and achievement from paintings, photographs, books, diaries, court records, legal documents, and oral histories. From Slave Ship to Harvard traces the family from the colonial period and the American Revolution through the Civil War to Harvard and finally today.Yarrow Mamout, the first of the family in America, was an educated Muslim from Guinea. He was brought to Maryland on the slave ship Elijah and gained his freedom forty-four years later. By then, Yarrow had become so well known in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., that he attracted the attention of the eminent American portrait painter Charles Willson Peale, who captured Yarrow’s visage in the painting that appears on the cover of this book. The author here reveals that Yarrow’s immediate relatives—his sister, niece, wife, and son—were notable in their own right. His son married into the neighboring Turner family, and the farm community in western Maryland called Yarrowsburg was named for Yarrow Mamout’s daughter-in-law, Mary “Polly” Turner Yarrow. The Turner line ultimately produced Robert Turner Ford, who graduated from Harvard University in 1927.Just as Peale painted the portrait of Yarrow, James H. Johnston’s new book puts a face on slavery and paints the history of race in Maryland. It is a different picture from what most of us imagine. Relationships between blacks and whites were far more complex, and the races more dependent on each other. Fortunately, as this one family’s experience shows, individuals of both races repeatedly stepped forward to lessen divisions and to move America toward the diverse society of today.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction

1. Yarrow Mamout, a West African Muslim Slave

2. Tobacco and the Importation of a Labor Force

3. Welcome to America

4. Slavery and Revolution

5. Yarrow of Georgetown

6. The Portraits: Peale, Yarrow, and Simpson

7. Free Hannah, Yarrow’s Sister

8. Nancy Hillman, Yarrow’s Niece

9. Aquilla Yarrow

10. Mary ‘‘Polly’’ Turner Yarrow

11. Aquilla and Polly in Pleasant Valley

12. Traces of Yarrow

13. Unpleasant Valley

14. Freedom

15. From Harvard to Today

Epilogue: Guide to the Yarrows’ and Turners’ World Today

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786613687937

9780823239528

0823239527

9780823246663

0823246663

9781280777547

1280777540

9780823239535

0823239535

OCLC:

795705237