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Slaves in the Family
Journalist Ball confronts the legacy of his family's slave-owning past, uncovering the story of the people, both black and white, who lived and worked on the Balls' South Carolina plantations. It is an unprecedented family record that reveals how the painful legacy of slavery continues to endure in America's collective memory and experience. Ball, a descendant of one of the largest slave-owning families in the South, discovered that his ancestors owned 25 plantations, worked by nearly 4,000 slaves.
Through meticulous research and by interviewing scattered relatives, Ball contacted some 100,000 African-Americans who are all descendants of Ball slaves. In intimate conversations with them, he garnered information, hard words, and devastating family stories of precisely what it means to be enslaved. He found that the family plantation owners were far from benevolent patriarchs; instead there is a dark history of exploitation, interbreeding, and extreme violence.
Through meticulous research and by interviewing scattered relatives, Ball contacted some 100,000 African-Americans who are all descendants of Ball slaves. In intimate conversations with them, he garnered information, hard words, and devastating family stories of precisely what it means to be enslaved. He found that the family plantation owners were far from benevolent patriarchs; instead there is a dark history of exploitation, interbreeding, and extreme violence.
505 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1998
About the author
Edward Ball
32 books90 followersEdward Ball was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1958, grew up in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. He finished high school in New Orleans and attended Brown University, graduating in 1982 with a B.A. in Semiotics.
He received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1984, and afterwards moved to New York City, where he worked as a freelance art critic, writing about film, art, architecture, and books for several magazines. For several years, he wrote for The Village Voice, a weekly with a circulation of 450,000.
In 1993, he began to research his family legacy as slave owners in South Carolina, an investigation that resulted in a half-hour National Public Radio documentary, "The Other History," which was awarded, in 1994, Best Radio Feature by the Society of Professional Journalists. He looked deeper into his family's story, documented in several archives, and, after three years, published his first book, Slaves in the Family, about his family's plantations and his search for black Americans whose ancestors the writer's family had once enslaved. Slaves in the Family was a New York Times bestseller and won the National Book Award for nonfiction.
Edward Ball's other books comprise biography, history, and memoir. He has taught at Yale University, and he lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
He received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1984, and afterwards moved to New York City, where he worked as a freelance art critic, writing about film, art, architecture, and books for several magazines. For several years, he wrote for The Village Voice, a weekly with a circulation of 450,000.
In 1993, he began to research his family legacy as slave owners in South Carolina, an investigation that resulted in a half-hour National Public Radio documentary, "The Other History," which was awarded, in 1994, Best Radio Feature by the Society of Professional Journalists. He looked deeper into his family's story, documented in several archives, and, after three years, published his first book, Slaves in the Family, about his family's plantations and his search for black Americans whose ancestors the writer's family had once enslaved. Slaves in the Family was a New York Times bestseller and won the National Book Award for nonfiction.
Edward Ball's other books comprise biography, history, and memoir. He has taught at Yale University, and he lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 380 reviews
August 5, 2014
It takes a lot of courage to cold call black people and be like, "Hi, my great-grandfather owned your great-grandmother. Can I come over so we can talk about it?" and then actually show up and talk about all the consequences of slavery. It seems like families that can trace their ancestry back to a specific plantation or person are more stable and generally more church-y and so more likely to be forgiving or at least moving past it. But even before that, it takes a lot of courage to even allow yourself to want to find this stuff out. Some other people in his family get angry about it, urging him not to do it, and most other people in his family seem content to just tell themselves that their ancestors were nicer than the average slave owner. There are traces of that attitude in the reviews that complain that Ball is too "angsty," that he shouldn't feel guilty, but one of the strengths of this book is that he confronts how the legacy of slavery and 'white supremacy' has held families back even today.
The book has 3 stories that it kind of bounces around, the first is the story of the author's family and the families they owned, the second is the history of modern slavery and the third is the story of the author's experience, digging around in archives and showing up at Black family reunions and African-American Genealogy clubs.
It is also very courageous, or maybe just straight up foolish, to go to Sierra Leone during the civil war there in the 90s and start asking the wealthier families on the coast about their role in the slave trade. Hats off to Edward Ball.
The book has 3 stories that it kind of bounces around, the first is the story of the author's family and the families they owned, the second is the history of modern slavery and the third is the story of the author's experience, digging around in archives and showing up at Black family reunions and African-American Genealogy clubs.
It is also very courageous, or maybe just straight up foolish, to go to Sierra Leone during the civil war there in the 90s and start asking the wealthier families on the coast about their role in the slave trade. Hats off to Edward Ball.
January 29, 2009
Our book group discussed this last evening. We felt Edward Ball was brave to tackle this topic, despite his unpopularity with his family and some readers. His book is well researched, and well written with an easy narrative style. Our group, very yankee and very white wondered how our discussion would have been different if we had a representative from the south and/or a Black American. The subject of slavery is never an easy one, bringing many emotions and unspoken, unresolved issues to the forefront. Edward Ball gave us much food for thought and a continued resolve to make freedom a reality for all men, women and children. We look forward to another book by this author.
June 25, 2020
Page 419 (my book)
I took a walk on the beach at Sullivan’s Island [South Carolina], the little sandbar at the entrance to Charleston harbor where the slave transports had first touched land….Although the island was once the most important landing place for black people brought to America, there was no museum, no monument, not even a handmade sign.
This book is about a man who explores the past of his family’s history. His family, the Ball family, originally moved from England to what is now South Carolina, the Charleston area, in 1698.
They used slaves to set-up their plantations, in this case for the growing and harvesting of rice. The author provides a vivid portrait of the spread of his ancestors over the generations and how they were affected by the culminating events of American history – American Independence (1776) and the Civil War (1861 - 65). By the time of the Civil War there were several Ball plantations spread out in the greater Charleston area, some having hundreds of slaves.
During Independence, which was a prolonged struggle extending beyond 1776 (the British did not let go easily!), many slaves fled the Ball plantations and joined the British because they were promised liberty. Various members of the Ball family chose different sides.
The Civil War was a different matter and it ended the slave/plantation era. This was replaced by another system of peonage - share-cropping.
The author gives us history at a very personal level. He goes through his family’s plantation documents which recorded the names of slaves (slaves were only given a first name) – those sold or bought, punishments administered usually by an assigned town warden, as the plantations owners did not want to get their clothes sullied. Not only did his ancestors own slaves on plantations, but some set-up trading-marketing companies for the purchasing and selling of slaves in Africa and then South Carolina.
The most striking passages in the book are the conversations he has with descendants of slaves. They enlighten him as to the treatment and life their ancestors led long ago. There is a strong oral tradition in black culture where history is passed down from one generation to the next.
Here is an extract of a conversation the author had with a Mrs. Frayer who was in her nineties:
Page 394-95
“He came under the cover of night?” I said
“That’s it,” said Mrs. Frayer, nodding. “That’s what they’all do, and they bury the dead in the night. And my grandmother says, you could hear the people screaming in the night, big fire light, big torch light, buryin’ their dead.”
“Enslaved people buried their dead at night?” I asked, leaning in.
“They had to, because they got to work in the day,” Mrs. Frayer came back. “They ain’t got time for buryin’ no dead in the day. If you dead, you wait till night for bury.”
He also speaks with those of mixed-race heritage. The slave male owners frequently had sexual relations with their female slaves. The author doesn’t really explore the nature of these relationships – at best some were long-term, but they were based on the powerful and dominating position of the male slave owner vis-a-vis the female slave; at worst it was simply rape where the victim had absolutely no recourse to any form of justice. I also found it irritating when the author, at times, referred to the slaves as “workers”, they were “slaves”, not “workers”.
Nevertheless, this book sheds much light on the divide of America – and the author must be credited through his many interviews and observations for providing a very personal understanding of this divisiveness that continues to exist in the United States. He also visited Sierra Leone in Africa where many of the slaves were gathered and placed on boats for shipment to South Carolina.
I focused much more on the various personalities interviewed – and rather ignored the genealogy (the great, great … grandmother, grandfather) of their past.
I took a walk on the beach at Sullivan’s Island [South Carolina], the little sandbar at the entrance to Charleston harbor where the slave transports had first touched land….Although the island was once the most important landing place for black people brought to America, there was no museum, no monument, not even a handmade sign.
This book is about a man who explores the past of his family’s history. His family, the Ball family, originally moved from England to what is now South Carolina, the Charleston area, in 1698.
They used slaves to set-up their plantations, in this case for the growing and harvesting of rice. The author provides a vivid portrait of the spread of his ancestors over the generations and how they were affected by the culminating events of American history – American Independence (1776) and the Civil War (1861 - 65). By the time of the Civil War there were several Ball plantations spread out in the greater Charleston area, some having hundreds of slaves.
During Independence, which was a prolonged struggle extending beyond 1776 (the British did not let go easily!), many slaves fled the Ball plantations and joined the British because they were promised liberty. Various members of the Ball family chose different sides.
The Civil War was a different matter and it ended the slave/plantation era. This was replaced by another system of peonage - share-cropping.
The author gives us history at a very personal level. He goes through his family’s plantation documents which recorded the names of slaves (slaves were only given a first name) – those sold or bought, punishments administered usually by an assigned town warden, as the plantations owners did not want to get their clothes sullied. Not only did his ancestors own slaves on plantations, but some set-up trading-marketing companies for the purchasing and selling of slaves in Africa and then South Carolina.
The most striking passages in the book are the conversations he has with descendants of slaves. They enlighten him as to the treatment and life their ancestors led long ago. There is a strong oral tradition in black culture where history is passed down from one generation to the next.
Here is an extract of a conversation the author had with a Mrs. Frayer who was in her nineties:
Page 394-95
“He came under the cover of night?” I said
“That’s it,” said Mrs. Frayer, nodding. “That’s what they’all do, and they bury the dead in the night. And my grandmother says, you could hear the people screaming in the night, big fire light, big torch light, buryin’ their dead.”
“Enslaved people buried their dead at night?” I asked, leaning in.
“They had to, because they got to work in the day,” Mrs. Frayer came back. “They ain’t got time for buryin’ no dead in the day. If you dead, you wait till night for bury.”
He also speaks with those of mixed-race heritage. The slave male owners frequently had sexual relations with their female slaves. The author doesn’t really explore the nature of these relationships – at best some were long-term, but they were based on the powerful and dominating position of the male slave owner vis-a-vis the female slave; at worst it was simply rape where the victim had absolutely no recourse to any form of justice. I also found it irritating when the author, at times, referred to the slaves as “workers”, they were “slaves”, not “workers”.
Nevertheless, this book sheds much light on the divide of America – and the author must be credited through his many interviews and observations for providing a very personal understanding of this divisiveness that continues to exist in the United States. He also visited Sierra Leone in Africa where many of the slaves were gathered and placed on boats for shipment to South Carolina.
I focused much more on the various personalities interviewed – and rather ignored the genealogy (the great, great … grandmother, grandfather) of their past.
November 6, 2019
I've got Balls in my line. . .but mine are all in North Carolina, and then trundle down to Georgia before heading to Louisiana and northwest Texas, and former slaves came with them to Texas. My great-grandma, Granny had stories. Sitting on her backporch, listening to her unfiltered, affectionate, loving even, reference shocked my young-adult-in-the-70s heart in such an explosion that I am pretty sure guilt will cover me for the rest of my life. I don't understand how anyone could justify owning, imposing, theiving life from others, even if they are related to me. But in my genealogical journeys, I find it time and again.
For that, I study, look for every last terrible corner, and try to find a way to reconcile beyond concocting terrific apologies. History is written by the victors. If this is the history to which we admit, how much more terrible must it have been?
4 stars, not because of subject or even writing - it was all scholarly and heartfelt. It just went on a tad longer than it needed to. This is my 2nd time reading this book - I read it in the the year it first came out.
For that, I study, look for every last terrible corner, and try to find a way to reconcile beyond concocting terrific apologies. History is written by the victors. If this is the history to which we admit, how much more terrible must it have been?
4 stars, not because of subject or even writing - it was all scholarly and heartfelt. It just went on a tad longer than it needed to. This is my 2nd time reading this book - I read it in the the year it first came out.
June 30, 2012
Edward Ball is descended from one of the largest slaveholding families in the South. At their busiest, the many plantations owned by the Ball families contained over 1,000 slaves. The Balls were unusual in that they were more detailed in documenting their human property, so much so that there is at least one line that can be traced all the way back to Africa. Anyone who watches "Who Do You Think You Are?" knows how rare that is.
It's difficult for me to say how disappointed I was with Slaves in the Family, because it's clear that Edward Ball's heart is in the right place and that he's trying to work out some issues of his own. However, as one of the descendants of the people his family enslaved says, he can't change what happened when he was on "God's Mantelpiece," and he should not feel personally guilty over it. It's obvious that he does, however, and that makes for some tedious angsting. He not only stresses his own bad feelings about the history of his family, but advises us regarding how we should feel, as well. The sequence where he visits the families of African slave traders and informs them that their ancestors were awful people is particularly cringe-worthy. How is the current generation meant to change what their 5th great-grandparents did?
A while ago, I read the excellent "The Hairstons: A Family in Black and White." That book succeeds where "Slaves in the Family" misses the mark; it tells the story of a family's intertwined, complex history with the understanding that while the current members of the family are a result of its history, they are not the cause of it. To paraphrase something wise that I heard a while back, peace comes when you accept that the past cannot be changed. If he hasn't done so yet, I hope that Edward Ball finds peace soon, for his own sake.
It's difficult for me to say how disappointed I was with Slaves in the Family, because it's clear that Edward Ball's heart is in the right place and that he's trying to work out some issues of his own. However, as one of the descendants of the people his family enslaved says, he can't change what happened when he was on "God's Mantelpiece," and he should not feel personally guilty over it. It's obvious that he does, however, and that makes for some tedious angsting. He not only stresses his own bad feelings about the history of his family, but advises us regarding how we should feel, as well. The sequence where he visits the families of African slave traders and informs them that their ancestors were awful people is particularly cringe-worthy. How is the current generation meant to change what their 5th great-grandparents did?
A while ago, I read the excellent "The Hairstons: A Family in Black and White." That book succeeds where "Slaves in the Family" misses the mark; it tells the story of a family's intertwined, complex history with the understanding that while the current members of the family are a result of its history, they are not the cause of it. To paraphrase something wise that I heard a while back, peace comes when you accept that the past cannot be changed. If he hasn't done so yet, I hope that Edward Ball finds peace soon, for his own sake.
September 10, 2011
Edward Ball, the descendant of South Carolina slave masters, sets out to trace the lineage of the slaves who lived on his ancestors' plantations. Through amazing detective work, Ball is able to locate and re-tell the story of many of his family's slaves, some of whom were the offspring of master-slave sexual relations, and therefore distant relatives. Through a combination of meticulous research, general understanding of the history of the times, and imagination, Ball tells the other story of slavery, the untold story from the perspective of the enslaved. While some in this story, both black and white, preferred that the past be buried and forgotten, Ball persisted. This book made me realize that many whites, including myself, have another part of their family history in the US that is buried and needs to be discovered. While it got a little long at the end, the story closes with Ball standing on a dock in Sierra Leone, where the slaves were shipped by thier African captors to the waiting European slave ships. I found this book on a $1 used book cart, but it was a real find!
February 6, 2010
This is the second time I've read this book and I was as pleased with it this time as the first time. This is the story of the author's research into his family's past as slave owners and slave traders. Through painstaking research and wonderful storytelling Ball tracks down his ancestors, both white and black, and tells the story of slavery in this country from the point of view of one prominent family.
We often think of slavery in terms of the Civil War. It's all Gone With The Wind and Mammy and Bette Davis in Jezebel sitting on the porch in hoop skirts listening to the slaves sing spirituals. These are all part of the story, but only part. The wonderful thing about this book is that this story starts with the arrival of the first Ball ancestor in the Americas in Charlestown (later Charleston) in the 1600's and follows the family up into the American Revolution and beyond. One of the Ball daughters was married to Henry Laurens, a delegate to the Second Continental Congress who succeeded John Adams as President of that body. He was also co-owner of a slave trading firm that was responsible for the sale of over 8,000 Africans during his lifetime.
The American Revolution was a boon for many slaves who were able to escape their masters to the British side. A number of people were taken back to Britain where they were given their freedom and some were taken to Nova Scotia to start over - it was people from the Canadian group that founded Sierra Leone and one of them was a former Ball slave.
The book takes us into the present day and brings together many disparate stories as the author struggles to come to terms with his family history and what it means to him. Along the way he meets many relatives he didn't know he had and is able to help some of these people piece together family trees as they trace their genealogy back through the records to their original slave ancestor.
This is not a perfect book and I can understand why some members of the author's family would have preferred he left well enough along, but I am glad he didn't. It is imperative that we all understand our history, acknowledge where we came from, and find the connections between us. They are closer than we think.
We often think of slavery in terms of the Civil War. It's all Gone With The Wind and Mammy and Bette Davis in Jezebel sitting on the porch in hoop skirts listening to the slaves sing spirituals. These are all part of the story, but only part. The wonderful thing about this book is that this story starts with the arrival of the first Ball ancestor in the Americas in Charlestown (later Charleston) in the 1600's and follows the family up into the American Revolution and beyond. One of the Ball daughters was married to Henry Laurens, a delegate to the Second Continental Congress who succeeded John Adams as President of that body. He was also co-owner of a slave trading firm that was responsible for the sale of over 8,000 Africans during his lifetime.
The American Revolution was a boon for many slaves who were able to escape their masters to the British side. A number of people were taken back to Britain where they were given their freedom and some were taken to Nova Scotia to start over - it was people from the Canadian group that founded Sierra Leone and one of them was a former Ball slave.
The book takes us into the present day and brings together many disparate stories as the author struggles to come to terms with his family history and what it means to him. Along the way he meets many relatives he didn't know he had and is able to help some of these people piece together family trees as they trace their genealogy back through the records to their original slave ancestor.
This is not a perfect book and I can understand why some members of the author's family would have preferred he left well enough along, but I am glad he didn't. It is imperative that we all understand our history, acknowledge where we came from, and find the connections between us. They are closer than we think.
March 6, 2023
OK well, here I am again with a whole list of books waiting on reviews. Oh well. Let's just get on with it.
So, as far as this book goes, I really enjoyed it. I bought the audiobook from Audible, but also borrowed the hardcover from the library for the supplemental information and pictures. I know that Audible gives a PDF of these things, but I never use them. Plus, having the book available to see the names and terms was nice.
The author reads this audiobook, and does a great job, I think, specifically trying to represent the different voices of the people he was writing about and quoting. He presented a lot of information and context and well-researched history about his family and their exploitation of enslaved people, and though I could sense and understand his modern disapproval of slavery as a general practice as well as his family's participation in and profiteering from it, he never really got preachy or sanctimonious about it. In general, I got a sense of his investment in reconciling with his family's history and the generational hurt it caused, how it fit into the larger story of America's (and pre-America's) racial history, and providing a honest account. There were in fact several times that the descendants of the enslaved people he was able to track down and speak to were far less troubled by the history than he was, a fact that seemed to be hard for him to accept or understand sometimes. But mostly he approached his book from a place of honesty and openness (and curiosity) rather than judgement or a sense of wanting to separate himself from that history, if that makes sense.
I will say that it jumps around quite a lot in time in the back half, and there's a lot to track between both his family lines and locations, the enslaved people's family lines and their locations, and the overlaps, but nothing that was too difficult to follow, as he generally offers context references to re-link back to previous info. It also covers a LOT of ground time-wise. From Colonial, pre-Revolution era through to the 21st century. But it never feels overwhelming despite the massive amount of research and info being related. It's very well written in my opinion. :)
Highly recommended.
So, as far as this book goes, I really enjoyed it. I bought the audiobook from Audible, but also borrowed the hardcover from the library for the supplemental information and pictures. I know that Audible gives a PDF of these things, but I never use them. Plus, having the book available to see the names and terms was nice.
The author reads this audiobook, and does a great job, I think, specifically trying to represent the different voices of the people he was writing about and quoting. He presented a lot of information and context and well-researched history about his family and their exploitation of enslaved people, and though I could sense and understand his modern disapproval of slavery as a general practice as well as his family's participation in and profiteering from it, he never really got preachy or sanctimonious about it. In general, I got a sense of his investment in reconciling with his family's history and the generational hurt it caused, how it fit into the larger story of America's (and pre-America's) racial history, and providing a honest account. There were in fact several times that the descendants of the enslaved people he was able to track down and speak to were far less troubled by the history than he was, a fact that seemed to be hard for him to accept or understand sometimes. But mostly he approached his book from a place of honesty and openness (and curiosity) rather than judgement or a sense of wanting to separate himself from that history, if that makes sense.
I will say that it jumps around quite a lot in time in the back half, and there's a lot to track between both his family lines and locations, the enslaved people's family lines and their locations, and the overlaps, but nothing that was too difficult to follow, as he generally offers context references to re-link back to previous info. It also covers a LOT of ground time-wise. From Colonial, pre-Revolution era through to the 21st century. But it never feels overwhelming despite the massive amount of research and info being related. It's very well written in my opinion. :)
Highly recommended.
Want to read
March 18, 2023Read by the author. Sounds very good.
March 14, 2021
I'm impressed by author Edward Ball's research into his family's past and even more impressed by his search for the descendants of the people that his family kept as slaves. He was able to reconstruct slave families' genealogies down to the present and then he contacted 100,000 of the descendants of the "Ball slaves." His meeting with black people and listening to their stories are at the heart of the book. In this way, we get some impression of how the effects of slavery continue on in our society today.
The author's story begins with his ancestor, Elias Ball. He inherited part of a plantation in the Southern region of America and so moved from England to the English colony of South Carolina in 1698. As part of that inheritance, Elias gained ownership of twenty slaves. He was then able to build a dynasty based on rice cultivation on a plantation near the rivers not far from the then booming port of Charleston. The Balls owned over twenty plantations with almost 4000 slaves by the end of the Civil War. By following the history of the Ball family, we get a history of our country focusing on South Carolina. We also follow the development of relationships between black and white people which was mainly a relationship of oppressors and oppressed. Following the Civil War and emancipation, the situation became more complex. The repression of blacks continued but black people gained some opportunities, however restricted the circumstances...
Edward Bell was able to establish relationships with African Americans whose ancestors had been "Ball slaves." I think he did what he could to face up to the horrific side of our history. As a society, we still need to understand what slavery meant and its continuing impact. As a final note, I want to mention Ball's trip to the African nation of Sierra Leone. There, he visited the prison from which many of the Africans who became "Ball slaves" began their terrible voyage to America. And he talked with Africans who were descendants of those who sold other Africans to the slave traders. People admitted to him that a great wrong had been done, but what can be done now? What, indeed?
The author's story begins with his ancestor, Elias Ball. He inherited part of a plantation in the Southern region of America and so moved from England to the English colony of South Carolina in 1698. As part of that inheritance, Elias gained ownership of twenty slaves. He was then able to build a dynasty based on rice cultivation on a plantation near the rivers not far from the then booming port of Charleston. The Balls owned over twenty plantations with almost 4000 slaves by the end of the Civil War. By following the history of the Ball family, we get a history of our country focusing on South Carolina. We also follow the development of relationships between black and white people which was mainly a relationship of oppressors and oppressed. Following the Civil War and emancipation, the situation became more complex. The repression of blacks continued but black people gained some opportunities, however restricted the circumstances...
Edward Bell was able to establish relationships with African Americans whose ancestors had been "Ball slaves." I think he did what he could to face up to the horrific side of our history. As a society, we still need to understand what slavery meant and its continuing impact. As a final note, I want to mention Ball's trip to the African nation of Sierra Leone. There, he visited the prison from which many of the Africans who became "Ball slaves" began their terrible voyage to America. And he talked with Africans who were descendants of those who sold other Africans to the slave traders. People admitted to him that a great wrong had been done, but what can be done now? What, indeed?
May 12, 2012
This book speaks to me in a very personal way. I, too, come from a southern family, and my ancestors also owned slaves. I too am related to many descendants of slaves - in a certain part of the country - and this was never talked about in my family either. Edward Ball smashed down the barrier between the history that is spoken of, and the history that is real. He covered his story from both sides of the Ball family...from descendants of the slaveowners to descendants of the slaves.
Did you know that if it was too much of a hassle to whip your slaves, you could pay someone else to do it?
I wish I could know that I would reject the notion of owning human beings, no matter when I was born, but perhaps that is wishful thinking?
Fascinating, meticulously researched.
Did you know that if it was too much of a hassle to whip your slaves, you could pay someone else to do it?
I wish I could know that I would reject the notion of owning human beings, no matter when I was born, but perhaps that is wishful thinking?
Fascinating, meticulously researched.
February 20, 2021
Very well researched and written book of the history of a prolific slave importing and owning family. Chose it as part of my Black History education. I typically choose authors of color, but made an exception. Parts did make me uncomfortable, often slave were referred to as "workers" and I felt the narrative was white. Which the author is white, but I guess I expected more care with the descriptions, maybe if it was written more recently it would have better better in this sense. Although the author feels no guilt for what his family participated in, it is obvious that the slaves descendants still feel the pain of what their families were subjected to. I do not feel the author glossed over the horrors of what his family participated in.
March 21, 2014
The novel “Slaves in the Family for me was a book of discovery, and learning as I was amazed as the author progressed in his research around the US and Africa to speak with people whose ancestors were slaves on his ancestors plantations.
This novel details an incredible journey through history about how one man began an empire of plantation life with slave labor. For the author to bring to light the truth was an embarrassment for some of his family and the detailed confirmed discovery for many African Americans for whom some who did not want to know the details of their ancestors who were enslaved on the Ball family plantations.
His research in discovering the written facts of slavery and the distances he traveled crossing the Atlantic to find the source of slavery and speak and meet with those whose ancestors sold thousands of Africans into slavery shows his determination in seeking the facts.
I listen to a Youtube video of the author presenting his book at a program in San Diego CA where he details the criticisms he received from readers of white and black Americans voicing their disgust and criticisms with his discovery of the truth and the details of his book.
What I learned from reading the novel has peaked my curiosity to research not only the history of my family but to learn more about a period of American history for which no national monuments are erected addressing a horrific episode in the establishment of American.
It is novels like Slaves in the family and current movies like 12 years a slave, which Americans reflect, and discuss the truthful facts of American Slavery.
The United States of America needs to acknowledge our wrongful beginning’s as a country by first acknowledging the acts allowing the country to survive its horrible establishment with the indigenous people and the enslavement of Africans.
The genocides of the indigenous populations and the enslavement of Africans needs be recognized with monuments dedicated to the remembrance of how United States of America began and to never cause any such atrocities ever again.
It will be these monuments that will show the world how to heal issues of division within a great country.
This novel details an incredible journey through history about how one man began an empire of plantation life with slave labor. For the author to bring to light the truth was an embarrassment for some of his family and the detailed confirmed discovery for many African Americans for whom some who did not want to know the details of their ancestors who were enslaved on the Ball family plantations.
His research in discovering the written facts of slavery and the distances he traveled crossing the Atlantic to find the source of slavery and speak and meet with those whose ancestors sold thousands of Africans into slavery shows his determination in seeking the facts.
I listen to a Youtube video of the author presenting his book at a program in San Diego CA where he details the criticisms he received from readers of white and black Americans voicing their disgust and criticisms with his discovery of the truth and the details of his book.
What I learned from reading the novel has peaked my curiosity to research not only the history of my family but to learn more about a period of American history for which no national monuments are erected addressing a horrific episode in the establishment of American.
It is novels like Slaves in the family and current movies like 12 years a slave, which Americans reflect, and discuss the truthful facts of American Slavery.
The United States of America needs to acknowledge our wrongful beginning’s as a country by first acknowledging the acts allowing the country to survive its horrible establishment with the indigenous people and the enslavement of Africans.
The genocides of the indigenous populations and the enslavement of Africans needs be recognized with monuments dedicated to the remembrance of how United States of America began and to never cause any such atrocities ever again.
It will be these monuments that will show the world how to heal issues of division within a great country.
February 6, 2013
This book makes great reading for anyone interested in genealogical research, slavery and the history of the American South. Edward Ball has made an important contribution to those fields with this extensively-researched look at plantation life near Charleston, SC. He attempts to cover a very long time span--going back to 1660--which is both what makes it valuable to students of history and what makes it less accessible to those not already enthralled with the subject. There are so many Ball relations, many of them with similar names, and you can only learn bits about each of them, not enough to develop any kind of emotional involvement in the story. Ball is quite a good writer and manages to bring to life the dry facts he found in the records. One of my favorite parts was an aside--"The Curse of the Buzzard Wing", about the spendthrift second wife of one of the Balls and her equally troublesome progeny. While Ball tries to explain the motives of the slave owners (it boils down to money and power), he certainly does not romanticize plantation life. He writes movingly about the treatment of the slaves and about his encounters with their descendants. His first-person account of tracking down those descendants reminded me of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." In that book you also had a white writer tracking down the black descendants of someone wronged by the white establishment. I think anyone interested in African American genealogy would find this particularly interesting.
February 9, 2012
This geneology- laced memoir was very interesting ! I had heard about this book several years ago and just found it. Written by the descendant of plantation owners, Edward Ball makes a diligent effort to find and understand the perspective of his own ancestors and the people they enslaved.
I was saddened by the defensiveness of his family - surely we can all agree that slavery is indefensible? The Balls were a people of their time, but every human has a conscience and knowing the wrongs of your ancestors does not make them completely unloveable - although they sure do seem greedy and shallow, they must have had some redeeming qualities as well. Except for the slave dealers. Can't get past the excessive evil there....
I was doubly saddened by the lack of knowledge on the part of the descendants of the enslaved families. Trying to spare their descendants, the former slaves, for the most part, chose not to discuss their lives under slavery. The stories that did make it tell of courage and survival in the most heartbreaking of circumstances - to me they seemed tragic, yet ultimately, very inspiring. It takes a lot of courage and strength to survive in those conditions.
The interviews with the descendants of slave suppliers in Africa was a new spin I'd not seen before. Their cheerful, bland shrugging off of any responsibility made me angry - they were sickening. It was somehow even more offensive than the Ball descendants hyper-defensiveness.
I was saddened by the defensiveness of his family - surely we can all agree that slavery is indefensible? The Balls were a people of their time, but every human has a conscience and knowing the wrongs of your ancestors does not make them completely unloveable - although they sure do seem greedy and shallow, they must have had some redeeming qualities as well. Except for the slave dealers. Can't get past the excessive evil there....
I was doubly saddened by the lack of knowledge on the part of the descendants of the enslaved families. Trying to spare their descendants, the former slaves, for the most part, chose not to discuss their lives under slavery. The stories that did make it tell of courage and survival in the most heartbreaking of circumstances - to me they seemed tragic, yet ultimately, very inspiring. It takes a lot of courage and strength to survive in those conditions.
The interviews with the descendants of slave suppliers in Africa was a new spin I'd not seen before. Their cheerful, bland shrugging off of any responsibility made me angry - they were sickening. It was somehow even more offensive than the Ball descendants hyper-defensiveness.
January 10, 2015
I was excited to read this, given what the author was trying to do, but it was a little disappointing. He spent far more time relating the history of his white family in America than talking about the people his family once owned. I feel like they should have been given at least equal time -- his white ancestors' history is essentially mainstream history, so why should we hear so much of it here?
In his preface, Ball talks about the families he met who are descended from Ball family slaves. He says that with some of them, "we spent long hours and months together, sharing stories and emotions, some of the worst of each, and occasionally some of the best." I felt like we got only a smattering of that in the book. That may be because of the reticence of his subjects or their unwillingness to publicize those conversations, but I wanted to hear more from them than I did from the author.
In his preface, Ball talks about the families he met who are descended from Ball family slaves. He says that with some of them, "we spent long hours and months together, sharing stories and emotions, some of the worst of each, and occasionally some of the best." I felt like we got only a smattering of that in the book. That may be because of the reticence of his subjects or their unwillingness to publicize those conversations, but I wanted to hear more from them than I did from the author.
February 9, 2015
“…the plantations shadowed my dreams. The Balls live side by side with black families for six generations, but the story, as I knew it, was divided in two. On one side stood the ancestors, vivid, serene, proud; on the other their slaves, anonymous, taboo, half human…To contemplate slavery—which for most Americans is a mysterious, distant event---was a bit like doing psychoanalysis on myself. Did the plantations form part of my identity?”
“the dead fed the dreams of the living.”
“It didn’t hurt me, now, but the people before me, and they all gone.” “We’re not responsible for what our ancestors did or did not do,” I said, “but we’re accountable for it.”
“But history is in all of us.”
Edward Ball is descended from the Ball family who owned a number of rice plantations in South Carolina, and over hundreds of African-American slaves. It was taboo in his family to talk about their slave-owning past, but Edward Ball, in order to possibly understand and redeem the past, sets out to find the story of the plantations and the people who worked there, their descendants, and, at the very end, going to Africa to find the descendants of the slave dealers. Mostly, Ball tracks down descendants of the slaves, some of whom are his kin. The stories are utterly heart-wrenching, powerful, tragic, and fascinating. Stories of loss and triumph. Though he has a tendency to write too many details about the clothes of his interviewees, Ball’s research and the sheer number of interviews is incredibly impressive and fascinating. He obviously feels the sins of his forefathers, but he is careful to present the evidence and feelings of people on all sides. He meticulously tells the story of the Ball family, from the beginnings in England, through the first plantations and the first slaves, through the American Revolution, through secession, the Civil War, and emancipation, through the nadir of race relations, through the Civil Rights movement, to present day. In particular, he follows these descendants of two young women brought to America in the 18th century. Ball, like the reader, desperately wants to understand how so horrible, so vile and evil a system as slavery could ever exist, but, of course, the more real it becomes through the stories of the slaves and slave masters, of their descendants forced to come to terms with it all, the more impossible the past is to understand. All we can do, as Ball realizes, is to know their stories and to beg forgiveness. Amazing, fascinating, moving read that I couldn’t put down and couldn’t stop talking about. Should be required reading for all high school history courses. Grade: A+
“the dead fed the dreams of the living.”
“It didn’t hurt me, now, but the people before me, and they all gone.” “We’re not responsible for what our ancestors did or did not do,” I said, “but we’re accountable for it.”
“But history is in all of us.”
Edward Ball is descended from the Ball family who owned a number of rice plantations in South Carolina, and over hundreds of African-American slaves. It was taboo in his family to talk about their slave-owning past, but Edward Ball, in order to possibly understand and redeem the past, sets out to find the story of the plantations and the people who worked there, their descendants, and, at the very end, going to Africa to find the descendants of the slave dealers. Mostly, Ball tracks down descendants of the slaves, some of whom are his kin. The stories are utterly heart-wrenching, powerful, tragic, and fascinating. Stories of loss and triumph. Though he has a tendency to write too many details about the clothes of his interviewees, Ball’s research and the sheer number of interviews is incredibly impressive and fascinating. He obviously feels the sins of his forefathers, but he is careful to present the evidence and feelings of people on all sides. He meticulously tells the story of the Ball family, from the beginnings in England, through the first plantations and the first slaves, through the American Revolution, through secession, the Civil War, and emancipation, through the nadir of race relations, through the Civil Rights movement, to present day. In particular, he follows these descendants of two young women brought to America in the 18th century. Ball, like the reader, desperately wants to understand how so horrible, so vile and evil a system as slavery could ever exist, but, of course, the more real it becomes through the stories of the slaves and slave masters, of their descendants forced to come to terms with it all, the more impossible the past is to understand. All we can do, as Ball realizes, is to know their stories and to beg forgiveness. Amazing, fascinating, moving read that I couldn’t put down and couldn’t stop talking about. Should be required reading for all high school history courses. Grade: A+
August 25, 2010
I bought this book in Charleston at the gift store in the Aiken house. Reading it while in South Carolina gave a good context for the historic sites I was seeing. It's taken me a little under a month to finish. At times it was slow moving, but the book was at its best when Ball described conversations with people. He did an amazing amount of research to trace back bloodlines. This is an important book. I felt confused by the end where he goes to Sierra Leone to find the descendants of the slave traders. This was the only part of the book where Ball seemed to have an agenda. He connected so well with Americans, and not at all with the Africans. The ending felt forced.
March 22, 2022
I’d never heard of this until last year, but then immediately put it on my TBR after reading a review of it from someone I follow, as it sounded really interesting. And it was interesting! For the most part. Large parts were a slog. It also didn’t really do what I wanted it to do, except in the preface, which was written in 2014 and not included in the original publication.
Edward Ball descends from the Ball family, wealthy plantation owners and people responsible for enslaving thousands of Black people over two hundred and fifty years. He discovered that his family had kept all their papers, a wealth of historical information, including information on the enslaved people the Balls owned. He decided to find out what he could, and in the process confront how his family actually treated the people they owned.
Almost no one in his family was happy about him digging through their past like this; none of them wanted their bubbles popped. Especially as the oral history of slavery in the Ball family was one where they had told themselves constantly and over generations that they weren’t like other slaveowners. They took care of the people they owned, they never beat them, never raped them, etc. So if this was true, why was his family so mad he was looking?
Interestingly, Ball does find evidence, both historical and through the oral histories of Black families whose ancestors were Ball slaves, that there was some truth to this family legacy. The Balls, historically, do seem to have been “better masters” than other slaveowners, but to say that they never mistreated their slaves is a) patently absurd, because even if true, owning slaves pretty much tops all those other crimes, and b) of course, there was still evidence that Ball slaves were beaten, imprisoned, raped, etc. Ball slaves were still instrumental in a couple of slave revolts. Ball finds lots of evidence that members of the Ball family had children with their slaves, whether due to rape, a single sexual encounter, or because that Ball family member was in a relationship (as it were) with the slave. (He finds evidence that the people in this latter category were often freed in their master’s wills, left money, or property.)
Also interesting were the conversations Ball had with some of his family members, many of whom display staggeringly paternalistic racism, and a general cluelessness I found astounding (willful ignorance might be a better term).
Where this book lost me was the endless family history of the Balls, especially when unconnected to his larger points, or to larger historical events. I just did not care. I think his perspective might have failed him a little here, because of course he finds the minutia of his own family history interesting. He also has an irritating writing tic, where he has to describe the way people look, and it gets pretty cringey at times, especially when he’s describing Black people. The preface really was one of the highlights of the book, and can’t imagine the book without it. That’s where you get most of the analysis, and more modern thoughts about race and generational trauma. I wanted more of that analysis throughout the book.
Overall, still worth checking out, bearing in mind that it’s over twenty years old, and that you’ll have to wade through 1,000 Elias Balls, or whatever, to get to the interesting stuff.
[3.5 stars]
Edward Ball descends from the Ball family, wealthy plantation owners and people responsible for enslaving thousands of Black people over two hundred and fifty years. He discovered that his family had kept all their papers, a wealth of historical information, including information on the enslaved people the Balls owned. He decided to find out what he could, and in the process confront how his family actually treated the people they owned.
Almost no one in his family was happy about him digging through their past like this; none of them wanted their bubbles popped. Especially as the oral history of slavery in the Ball family was one where they had told themselves constantly and over generations that they weren’t like other slaveowners. They took care of the people they owned, they never beat them, never raped them, etc. So if this was true, why was his family so mad he was looking?
Interestingly, Ball does find evidence, both historical and through the oral histories of Black families whose ancestors were Ball slaves, that there was some truth to this family legacy. The Balls, historically, do seem to have been “better masters” than other slaveowners, but to say that they never mistreated their slaves is a) patently absurd, because even if true, owning slaves pretty much tops all those other crimes, and b) of course, there was still evidence that Ball slaves were beaten, imprisoned, raped, etc. Ball slaves were still instrumental in a couple of slave revolts. Ball finds lots of evidence that members of the Ball family had children with their slaves, whether due to rape, a single sexual encounter, or because that Ball family member was in a relationship (as it were) with the slave. (He finds evidence that the people in this latter category were often freed in their master’s wills, left money, or property.)
Also interesting were the conversations Ball had with some of his family members, many of whom display staggeringly paternalistic racism, and a general cluelessness I found astounding (willful ignorance might be a better term).
Where this book lost me was the endless family history of the Balls, especially when unconnected to his larger points, or to larger historical events. I just did not care. I think his perspective might have failed him a little here, because of course he finds the minutia of his own family history interesting. He also has an irritating writing tic, where he has to describe the way people look, and it gets pretty cringey at times, especially when he’s describing Black people. The preface really was one of the highlights of the book, and can’t imagine the book without it. That’s where you get most of the analysis, and more modern thoughts about race and generational trauma. I wanted more of that analysis throughout the book.
Overall, still worth checking out, bearing in mind that it’s over twenty years old, and that you’ll have to wade through 1,000 Elias Balls, or whatever, to get to the interesting stuff.
[3.5 stars]
March 4, 2020
Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball is an impressive book, demonstrating years of research, interviews and exploration. Ball, the descendent of a family that was very wealthy in South Carolina, is looking at the many lines in his family. The White people who came from England and often married other early settlers in the colonial days. They had many plantations just outside of Charlestown. Ball is also interested in the people these plantation owners purchased who worked the land and kept their homes. So, he is following these descendants. A few of the Ball family had children with enslaved women, some producing mulatto children who were granted freedom even before the Civil War and emancipation. Ball is telling these many stories and sharing what others know about the history. Of course, many of his father’s generation do not support this exploration, but many in his own age cohort encourage his work.
Having recently visited Charlestown, this book brings many issues to light. I’ve also read some of the history of slavery, its expansion to the Alabama and Mississippi, as well as the divisions over the many wars, including the American Revolution. Many in the Ball family were in rice production, a staple for South Carolina, but they have to master how to establish and maintain their plantations, which means purchases many enslaved people. As they family grew and acquired more property, they were among the largest owners in the region. They learned to think about the tribes and their characteristics, often giving people names that reflected their origins, like Angola Amy. As a wealthy family, there are many papers to read, especially by the men who varied in how they kept records, some included more details about the enslaved people than others.
The Balls were not the most political family, but got pulled into conflicts when their own wealth is threatened. They made sure that their rice crops could be sold. What does a revolution mean to them? It is complicated. and they did well during the war with England, but also were more likely to be Loyalists, since they linked the war with the English abolishing slavery. Yet, there are many stories among this elite group, as people switch sides. John Laurens, made famous in the musical “Hamilton,” was the son of Henry Laurens, who married a Ball daughter. Henry generated his wealth as a slave trader. His wealth enabled him to educated his son in Europe, where John became more progressive. He wanted to enlist enslaved Black as soldiers, since the British were offering them freedom if they fought against the rebels. Washington liked the idea, but did not want to grant freedom to those Black people who fought for the rebel’s freedom. Yet, as we know from the musical, John Laurens died before the end of the war. Yet, we see how there were conflicts even within families, as people weighed the realities of slavery and their own source of wealth. Many enslaved people did escape and joined the British, meaning that the number of enslaved people decreased during this period of time.
Some of the Balls were punished for their actions as Loyalists, but rewarded for the lose of property and relocate to England. Yet, amazing how they were well cared for, but others negotiated their status and remained in South Carolina. Their ownership of people takes on a paternalistic tone, yet, there are many who were quick with the whip. As time progresses and the nation changes, rice production has to compete with cotton after the invention of the cotton gin, which makes production of that crop profitable in the region. Family members take up other businesses, but after expansion of rice in the 18th century, they watch changes in the 19th with expansion to the west and even technological changes in their own backyard.
The family is also challenged by the growing succession movement and the Civil War, with people participating both politically and, in the military, but some of the men focused on their plantations. The women also had to plan, often moving inward since islands and territory around Charleston was such a site for struggle. Looking at letters and other papers, Ball does document the impact of the war on the family. Less is known about the people they enslaved, but some did escape, but they are far from the front, so joining the Union army was not easy. Enslaved people on the plantation had been there for generations, in fact many remained with the Ball families and took up sharecropping after the war. Yet, a few do escape and join with the Union. In his research, Ball wants to learn from these Black families and share what he knows.
Ball meets people who were descendants of the early enslaved people, who are cordial but some are reserved. Yet, he shared his research so that while names might have been passed down generation, people did not know the African roots of Angola Amy and Priscilla. Ball is filling in pieces for these Black families as they share what they know. There are also the people who are really mixed blood, his cousins who had to negotiate different racial boundaries as mulattos or light skinned across generations. Yet, those who came of age in the 20th century, had to battle segregation and discrimination.
There were limited occupations for Black people, even after Emancipation, so some are school teachers, ministers, funeral directors and the like. There stories are amazing, as they retained their humanity. Engaging in the arts, is rough, not only facing educational discrimination, but the challenges of making a living. The artist, Edwin Harleston, does not receive the acclaim his work merits until after his death, but he did paint a historical mural in Fisk with Aaron Douglas. It is within Black institutions that people not only participated, but found a way for them to develop their own dreams. People were active in the NAACP and other efforts for social change.
Growing up in NYC, I liked the story of Ray Fleming who leaves the funeral home business and goes to New York in 1957—moving between Harlem and Greenwich Village. He carves out a career in the music business, but has his own low points.
The organization of the book is complex, perhaps it follows Ball own learning. Yet we learn about the Civil War around page 322, after we have learned about different branches of the family, including cousins. Yet the war from the family papers tells a sorrowful story. Members of the Ball family differed in how they treated their enslaved people. There are many myths, but diversity is important here. Ball family members encouraged education, even helping with studies and writing letters for house servants so they could keep in touch with love ones. These stories are repeated by descendants. Ball takes responsibility for the action of his family, but while some descendants do not want to think about the past, some welcome his efforts to help them return to their original homes.
As a nation that has wanted to forget the past, the book is a different take that can b read in many ways. I find Ball’s trip to Africa, where again tribe members were involved in the slave trade, a bit hard to read. In some ways, Ball forgets the historical context as he wants people to take responsibility. Yet, there are limits on what any generation can do about the past. It is more important to take actions now that seeks to redress the social inequality that results from not only years of enslavement, but a continuation of second-class citizenship.
Having recently visited Charlestown, this book brings many issues to light. I’ve also read some of the history of slavery, its expansion to the Alabama and Mississippi, as well as the divisions over the many wars, including the American Revolution. Many in the Ball family were in rice production, a staple for South Carolina, but they have to master how to establish and maintain their plantations, which means purchases many enslaved people. As they family grew and acquired more property, they were among the largest owners in the region. They learned to think about the tribes and their characteristics, often giving people names that reflected their origins, like Angola Amy. As a wealthy family, there are many papers to read, especially by the men who varied in how they kept records, some included more details about the enslaved people than others.
The Balls were not the most political family, but got pulled into conflicts when their own wealth is threatened. They made sure that their rice crops could be sold. What does a revolution mean to them? It is complicated. and they did well during the war with England, but also were more likely to be Loyalists, since they linked the war with the English abolishing slavery. Yet, there are many stories among this elite group, as people switch sides. John Laurens, made famous in the musical “Hamilton,” was the son of Henry Laurens, who married a Ball daughter. Henry generated his wealth as a slave trader. His wealth enabled him to educated his son in Europe, where John became more progressive. He wanted to enlist enslaved Black as soldiers, since the British were offering them freedom if they fought against the rebels. Washington liked the idea, but did not want to grant freedom to those Black people who fought for the rebel’s freedom. Yet, as we know from the musical, John Laurens died before the end of the war. Yet, we see how there were conflicts even within families, as people weighed the realities of slavery and their own source of wealth. Many enslaved people did escape and joined the British, meaning that the number of enslaved people decreased during this period of time.
Some of the Balls were punished for their actions as Loyalists, but rewarded for the lose of property and relocate to England. Yet, amazing how they were well cared for, but others negotiated their status and remained in South Carolina. Their ownership of people takes on a paternalistic tone, yet, there are many who were quick with the whip. As time progresses and the nation changes, rice production has to compete with cotton after the invention of the cotton gin, which makes production of that crop profitable in the region. Family members take up other businesses, but after expansion of rice in the 18th century, they watch changes in the 19th with expansion to the west and even technological changes in their own backyard.
The family is also challenged by the growing succession movement and the Civil War, with people participating both politically and, in the military, but some of the men focused on their plantations. The women also had to plan, often moving inward since islands and territory around Charleston was such a site for struggle. Looking at letters and other papers, Ball does document the impact of the war on the family. Less is known about the people they enslaved, but some did escape, but they are far from the front, so joining the Union army was not easy. Enslaved people on the plantation had been there for generations, in fact many remained with the Ball families and took up sharecropping after the war. Yet, a few do escape and join with the Union. In his research, Ball wants to learn from these Black families and share what he knows.
Ball meets people who were descendants of the early enslaved people, who are cordial but some are reserved. Yet, he shared his research so that while names might have been passed down generation, people did not know the African roots of Angola Amy and Priscilla. Ball is filling in pieces for these Black families as they share what they know. There are also the people who are really mixed blood, his cousins who had to negotiate different racial boundaries as mulattos or light skinned across generations. Yet, those who came of age in the 20th century, had to battle segregation and discrimination.
There were limited occupations for Black people, even after Emancipation, so some are school teachers, ministers, funeral directors and the like. There stories are amazing, as they retained their humanity. Engaging in the arts, is rough, not only facing educational discrimination, but the challenges of making a living. The artist, Edwin Harleston, does not receive the acclaim his work merits until after his death, but he did paint a historical mural in Fisk with Aaron Douglas. It is within Black institutions that people not only participated, but found a way for them to develop their own dreams. People were active in the NAACP and other efforts for social change.
Growing up in NYC, I liked the story of Ray Fleming who leaves the funeral home business and goes to New York in 1957—moving between Harlem and Greenwich Village. He carves out a career in the music business, but has his own low points.
The organization of the book is complex, perhaps it follows Ball own learning. Yet we learn about the Civil War around page 322, after we have learned about different branches of the family, including cousins. Yet the war from the family papers tells a sorrowful story. Members of the Ball family differed in how they treated their enslaved people. There are many myths, but diversity is important here. Ball family members encouraged education, even helping with studies and writing letters for house servants so they could keep in touch with love ones. These stories are repeated by descendants. Ball takes responsibility for the action of his family, but while some descendants do not want to think about the past, some welcome his efforts to help them return to their original homes.
As a nation that has wanted to forget the past, the book is a different take that can b read in many ways. I find Ball’s trip to Africa, where again tribe members were involved in the slave trade, a bit hard to read. In some ways, Ball forgets the historical context as he wants people to take responsibility. Yet, there are limits on what any generation can do about the past. It is more important to take actions now that seeks to redress the social inequality that results from not only years of enslavement, but a continuation of second-class citizenship.
June 29, 2023
Though somewhat dated, read this and found it fascinating. A meticulously-researched book based on old documents: newspapers; diary entries; business accounts, contracts and transactions; court records; census reports; as well as anecdotes and testimony from those who remembered grandparents, great-grandparents and others' stories regarding the practice of mass enslavement in the south up and into the 1860's. Mr. Ball did so much work! Research AND legwork in support of this book.
The reason I wrote 'somewhat dated' is not for the historical data he uncovered, or the multitude of interviews he did in his search for living descendants of African-American slaves. (That was a momentous task and none have done it better!) It's because it was published in 1998 and here we are, over twenty years later, and able to certify and validate who descended from whom based on recent DNA research. There are sections in this book where people are compared to old photographs in order to 'determine' likenesses between say, a person living today and an ancestor a slave, born in the mid-1800's. I suppose this can still be done, but a DNA verification would solidify the link, if any. And so, science creeps up on us and then BANG, there it is...
Otherwise, a tremendous achievement. Photographs. Lineages. Anecdotes passed down thru families concerning the treatment of their ancestors, enslaved simply because another race, another group, was able to do so - and to profit immensely from their labor. (The mentions of families and institutions thriving today, and sitting on vast fortunes accrued through the labor of others, mostly black African-American slaves, incredible!)
I liked one thing Mr. Ball said at the start of this book, that he, as a white descendant of a once very wealthy, white, privileged Southern family, which owned thousands of slaves over a dozen or more different estates or plantations did not feel responsible for what his ancestors did. However, he did feel accountable.
I think Americans all need to feel the same. Great book. I'd love to see an update, a 'part two,' incorporating DNA results where people were willing to look into this part of their history. However, for what it is, it's fantastic.
And for anyone who suggests, even for a moment, that 'things were not so bad' back then...
Read it.
Five stars.
The reason I wrote 'somewhat dated' is not for the historical data he uncovered, or the multitude of interviews he did in his search for living descendants of African-American slaves. (That was a momentous task and none have done it better!) It's because it was published in 1998 and here we are, over twenty years later, and able to certify and validate who descended from whom based on recent DNA research. There are sections in this book where people are compared to old photographs in order to 'determine' likenesses between say, a person living today and an ancestor a slave, born in the mid-1800's. I suppose this can still be done, but a DNA verification would solidify the link, if any. And so, science creeps up on us and then BANG, there it is...
Otherwise, a tremendous achievement. Photographs. Lineages. Anecdotes passed down thru families concerning the treatment of their ancestors, enslaved simply because another race, another group, was able to do so - and to profit immensely from their labor. (The mentions of families and institutions thriving today, and sitting on vast fortunes accrued through the labor of others, mostly black African-American slaves, incredible!)
I liked one thing Mr. Ball said at the start of this book, that he, as a white descendant of a once very wealthy, white, privileged Southern family, which owned thousands of slaves over a dozen or more different estates or plantations did not feel responsible for what his ancestors did. However, he did feel accountable.
I think Americans all need to feel the same. Great book. I'd love to see an update, a 'part two,' incorporating DNA results where people were willing to look into this part of their history. However, for what it is, it's fantastic.
And for anyone who suggests, even for a moment, that 'things were not so bad' back then...
Read it.
Five stars.
February 22, 2021
Certainly not perfect, but I think it could have a slightly positive impact for some beginners out there, in spite of itself?
The author at the time of writing this book clearly still had a lot of growing to do, but I can appreciate the he seems at least to be /trying/ to take baby steps. That’s as nice as I can get.
The book is written clumsily and jumps around or meanders often. I think at times it strays too far into the history of his own white family and the society of the enslavers, at the expense of reckoning in more detail with what they did to the people they enslaved and the society that the enslaved and emancipated people created around themselves, which seemed to me to be the intended point of the book. Often, the Black people in this book end up feeling like plot devices for his own horn-tootin’ growth journey on display for his own profit.
Also, sometimes the ways he phrases things or thinks he’s saying something profound made me wanna heave the book at a wall. But again, he’s on a journey. I am trying to give him grace that he doesn’t deserve, but here I am. After all, he clearly comes from an extremely messy and problematic background, but he’s just not doing enough.
It’s a hard read, it took me a long time to get through, but I think we need many more books in this vein that dig deeper and grapple with the gritty details of a history so fraught with so many intentional gaps.
I would love to know more about the families that he managed to find, and more about the work of uncovering those connections and the family trees he built from that research, which only really got mentioned in small portions of the book. The family trees themselves were relegated to the back of the book and never referenced directly in the text.
All in all, I know an awful lot about the intimate lives of slave owners and sellers and their profiting descendants after reading this (and it’s not regularly a super endearing or flattering account), but I’m left wondering an awful lot about the victims and their families, who still seem underrepresented.
I doubt I would have kept reading if I’d have known at the outset that he was not going to go much further past basically saying “I found some of them!!”
He even had the audacity to basically excuse himself in the end, and it ended up feeling sentimental, performative, and alarmingly revisionist. The more that time goes by, the more this book upsets me. I keep coming back and docking it more stars.
The author at the time of writing this book clearly still had a lot of growing to do, but I can appreciate the he seems at least to be /trying/ to take baby steps. That’s as nice as I can get.
The book is written clumsily and jumps around or meanders often. I think at times it strays too far into the history of his own white family and the society of the enslavers, at the expense of reckoning in more detail with what they did to the people they enslaved and the society that the enslaved and emancipated people created around themselves, which seemed to me to be the intended point of the book. Often, the Black people in this book end up feeling like plot devices for his own horn-tootin’ growth journey on display for his own profit.
Also, sometimes the ways he phrases things or thinks he’s saying something profound made me wanna heave the book at a wall. But again, he’s on a journey. I am trying to give him grace that he doesn’t deserve, but here I am. After all, he clearly comes from an extremely messy and problematic background, but he’s just not doing enough.
It’s a hard read, it took me a long time to get through, but I think we need many more books in this vein that dig deeper and grapple with the gritty details of a history so fraught with so many intentional gaps.
I would love to know more about the families that he managed to find, and more about the work of uncovering those connections and the family trees he built from that research, which only really got mentioned in small portions of the book. The family trees themselves were relegated to the back of the book and never referenced directly in the text.
All in all, I know an awful lot about the intimate lives of slave owners and sellers and their profiting descendants after reading this (and it’s not regularly a super endearing or flattering account), but I’m left wondering an awful lot about the victims and their families, who still seem underrepresented.
I doubt I would have kept reading if I’d have known at the outset that he was not going to go much further past basically saying “I found some of them!!”
He even had the audacity to basically excuse himself in the end, and it ended up feeling sentimental, performative, and alarmingly revisionist. The more that time goes by, the more this book upsets me. I keep coming back and docking it more stars.
January 17, 2015
Such a fascinating book! The book is so well written that it holds your attention even though there is a lot of genealogical material in it. Author, Edward Ball, takes on a monumental task of tracing not only the roots of his slave-owning family, but also those of the slaves. Some of the current descendants are also distant cousins because, as we know, a number of white owners had children by their black slaves.
Ball has done an amazing amount of research & his family kept meticulous records concerning the plantations & slaves they owned. What makes it interesting is that he contacts current descendants of slaves his forbearers had. As you might expect, he encounters some hostility, but some are interested in learning about their family history. Ball must have a gift for making a connection, because he makes friends with some of the families & he learns things that have been passed down through the slave-family line about other slaves & their masters.
The book it isn't a "quick" read. I'd say it is dense reading. Ball's excellent writing and how he intersperses family stories and his experiences meeting current descendants keeps you wanting to learn more. There is quite a bit of our nation's early history, too because the Ball family was large and influential. So the larger history is interesting to me. There are quite a few pictures, maps and drawings, too. My serendipity is that we are planning a trip to Charleston soon, and though I didn't know about the Ball family's roots in the U.S being in South Carolina, I will have a better perspective of their history.
Edward Ball is a new writer to me and I chose the book for the subject matter. (I think I read a reference to it when reading Jon Mecham's Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power) However, I enjoyed Ball's writing, and I was glad to learn of his other books. I intend to read some of them.
Ball has done an amazing amount of research & his family kept meticulous records concerning the plantations & slaves they owned. What makes it interesting is that he contacts current descendants of slaves his forbearers had. As you might expect, he encounters some hostility, but some are interested in learning about their family history. Ball must have a gift for making a connection, because he makes friends with some of the families & he learns things that have been passed down through the slave-family line about other slaves & their masters.
The book it isn't a "quick" read. I'd say it is dense reading. Ball's excellent writing and how he intersperses family stories and his experiences meeting current descendants keeps you wanting to learn more. There is quite a bit of our nation's early history, too because the Ball family was large and influential. So the larger history is interesting to me. There are quite a few pictures, maps and drawings, too. My serendipity is that we are planning a trip to Charleston soon, and though I didn't know about the Ball family's roots in the U.S being in South Carolina, I will have a better perspective of their history.
Edward Ball is a new writer to me and I chose the book for the subject matter. (I think I read a reference to it when reading Jon Mecham's Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power) However, I enjoyed Ball's writing, and I was glad to learn of his other books. I intend to read some of them.
January 25, 2014
I put off reading this for awhile even though I have had it a few months. I wondered if I could stay focused all the way through because it seemed like it would be a tedious read and I wanted to really be able to give it the respect it deserves. So, I took the plunge and it was incredible. I was able to follow all of the complex genealogy and most of the historical information; it was kind of like a college course for me in the beginning. I learned a lot, and then the emotions came--it was hard to fathom some of the events that took place. Even though this is history and documentary, it read very suspensefully and kept me interested throughout. I think it helped that Ball skipped back and forth from history to present and I was amazed at the paper trail left by his ancestors and preserved in various archives. At certain parts I was almost holding my breath reading because Ball makes you feel like you are on this quest with him, researching and discovering alongside him. Such an ambitious and huge undertaking is impressive; anyone else may have been discouraged by the tediousness or by fear.
I was thinking that one of the best ways to reflect on my impressions of this book was to remember what a descendant of one the Ball slaves said to the author in one of their meetings: that one of the only things able to remedy the past is to minister love...which is really true. Then I looked down to my daily planner(a Momagenda), and the quote I read for that day was, "...love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity." And I saw it was attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. And that it was perfect.
I was thinking that one of the best ways to reflect on my impressions of this book was to remember what a descendant of one the Ball slaves said to the author in one of their meetings: that one of the only things able to remedy the past is to minister love...which is really true. Then I looked down to my daily planner(a Momagenda), and the quote I read for that day was, "...love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity." And I saw it was attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. And that it was perfect.
April 10, 2016
I heard about this book through reading Thulani Davis' MY CONFEDERATE KINFOLK, and I'm glad I followed up. Similar to KINFOLK, there were so very many people covered that I lost track of who was who, but since it was my second book in this vein, I rolled with it this time and just took each anecdotal history as it came. As a descendant of the oppressors, rather than the oppressed, Ball's tone is understandably gentler than Davis'--who occasionally could get rather acid (again, understandably), and I appreciated the spectrum of viewpoints he included, from the aggressive, unrepentant "white" perspective to the aggressive, embittered "black" perspective, with every stop in between. Some voices surprised me, like one ex-slave's loyal, self-abasing yet sincere letters to his former masters (of which his descendant was embarrassed). Or the descendants of African slave traders Ball looks up in Sierra Leone! (Why has no one written a novel about them yet?)
The most squirmy moment comes when Ball attends a concert of white planter descendants in full-on GONE WITH THE WINDish regalia, singing slave spirituals. Eek. Twitch. But longer than they will stay in my mind (I pray), I'll remember the moments of reconciliation and healing. When Ball is able to give one family names and facts and origins of their forbears. When, with an elderly descendant of a Ball slave, he visits the dilapidated former slave cabin in which she was born.
Finally, this book would be great for fans of Charleston, the American Revolution, and the Civil War. Recommended.
The most squirmy moment comes when Ball attends a concert of white planter descendants in full-on GONE WITH THE WINDish regalia, singing slave spirituals. Eek. Twitch. But longer than they will stay in my mind (I pray), I'll remember the moments of reconciliation and healing. When Ball is able to give one family names and facts and origins of their forbears. When, with an elderly descendant of a Ball slave, he visits the dilapidated former slave cabin in which she was born.
Finally, this book would be great for fans of Charleston, the American Revolution, and the Civil War. Recommended.
May 7, 2008
This book by Edward Ball took me a week or so to read. Though some parts are a little dry, the subject matter is very compelling. Growing up, Ball knew his family had at one time owned slaves, but the family did not encourage conversation on this topic. Needing to know more, he began researching and trying to find the descendants of the slaves his family had owned. Not all greeted him with open arms and some of his own family members were hostile. Through the process he found several people who are very likely related to him. The book discusses slavery on the rice plantations of South Carolina and larger issues of the slave trade, changing political climates, etc..., but the focus is on this man's family and the families they owned. The family stories he tells and the way he connects families through history - his own and those of others -draws the reader through a dark period of American history that still evokes strong emotions today.
Recommended - I am not aware of any other book quite like this. And for a fairly thorough portrait of what slaveholders and slaves thought about their lives, this provides a pretty good perspective that acknowledges bias, but tries very hard to overcome that bias. Does not turn a blind eye to outrages committed by whites (his own family included), but the message is one of family and of hope.
Recommended - I am not aware of any other book quite like this. And for a fairly thorough portrait of what slaveholders and slaves thought about their lives, this provides a pretty good perspective that acknowledges bias, but tries very hard to overcome that bias. Does not turn a blind eye to outrages committed by whites (his own family included), but the message is one of family and of hope.
February 9, 2019
I was totally impressed by what the author did. It must have been difficult, especially when he wasn't well received. Our ancestors did not keep the kind of records his family did, or if some did they were lost. We can come up with numbers and I believe that I will note those numbers in the history I am compiling. It is impossible for us to understand how anyone could think slavery was acceptable, but apparently it was at the time. To not record it is to deny the truth and there has been too much denial.
I guess I should relate here that the book was a gift from my granddaughter, Zoe. We were to discuss it during her last visit. I finished the book just before she arrived, but she wasn't ready yet.
I guess I should relate here that the book was a gift from my granddaughter, Zoe. We were to discuss it during her last visit. I finished the book just before she arrived, but she wasn't ready yet.
June 30, 2009
I had a personal reason for reading this book. I (a white woman) found out that my great grandfather was the son of a black woman & white slave owner) that had worked and her family had worked on a plantation for decades. I have tried without results to find more of their lives. This book is about a descendant of a slave owner contacting the descendants of the slaves that worked the plantation. Although not particularly well written, this strikes at my very core and I feel more connected. I want to feel and know my great,great grandmother and her heritage and reading this book is a good first step in that pursuit.
October 5, 2012
I loved this book it showed the darker side of a distant branch of my family. Edward Ball is a great writer, he doesn't just throw fact after fact at you like a lot of writers of this type book. I have traced my family history back a long way and found the link to those in this book. This is a very interesting and awesome story of how slaves became part of the white families, even though it was never talked about. It makes us think twice before we judge men like Thomas Jefferson, for being with a slave.
August 29, 2020
Anyone white, European-Americans who has done some family history research that links them back to slave owning Southern families before the Civil War should read this book. I wish many descendants of slaves could read this book and know that their distant cousins can indeed experience some of the emotional toll of the diabolical system that harmed so many people--yet inadvertently brought us the many cultural riches that gleam in the American fabric.
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