National Book Award Non Fiction Winner
Slaves in the Family
by Edward Ball
Summary
A descendant of one of South Carolina's largest slaveholding families traces his ancestors' plantation records and seeks out the descendants of the people they enslaved. Ball travels across the American South and West Africa, conducting interviews and reckoning with documents that name nearly four thousand enslaved people. The book pioneered a new kind of genealogical history that linked white and Black American family lines.
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Historical Context & Significance
Ball spent years traveling across the U.S. and Africa; his work was a landmark in "genealogical reckoning," forcing Americans to face the shared bloodlines of slavery.