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

In this book the reader is drawn into the complicated world of antebellum America. In lucid prose, he simultaneously shows the ideology behind antebellum mastery, the connection between seemingly insignificant individuals and national politics, the hypocritical facade of the justice system, one woman's struggle to live under brutal oppression, and offers a compelling story that has a bit of mystery in it.

He accomplishes this monumental task with clarity and transparency despite substantial holes in the documentary evidence. His work is a model to show how historians can write for a popular audience and not oversimplify, nor fictionalize, the past.

We cannot forget that America enslaved more than 4 million black people, tortured them, raped them, and stole their wages, then, after "freeing" them, forced them to live in apartheid-like conditions for nearly one hundred years. Every American must read books like Celia to confront their past. Even those who came more recently need to recognize that the wealth and the freedoms of the United States that drew millions to our nation, rests upon the back of four million unvoluntary laborers.

Read more, learn more, do more.


A forced read that became a blessing...   January 31, 1998
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I was forced to read this short book in college. As I turned each page, I became more connected to the protagonist, Celia and her struggle to escape the control and degradation emposed on her by her master. This story sheds light on the antebellum South's lifestyle and mentality toward "Negroes" as property versus percentages of persons. A MUST READ, especially for African American youth seeking a personal understanding!


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N. Rogers (New Mexico, USA)
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An excellent slice of history   April 17, 2010
Myles Clowers
Celia is a true story about a young African-American woman who was purchased by an elderly Missouri man to be his concubine. As a resident on his farm in her own cabin, Celia becomes romantically attached to another slave. She is then forced into a dilemma: either break off her relationship with her own and be failthful to a man of her own race or continue the master-sex slave condition. She kills her owner and is susbsequently tried, convicted, and hanged.
The book covers the owner's beginning, his purchase of Celia, her conflicts, the murder and the trial with a deft hand by the author. What makes the book so outstanding is the author placing the whole story in the context of the country in the 1850s in such a way that the reader gets insights into the period. Furthermore, the author does this in a manner in a judicious manner that allows the reader to see the tragedy of Celia and 19th century dilemma of slavery in America.





Fantastic ... Rewarding   August 31, 1999
Katie (k8enmatt@aol.com) (Houston, TX)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I read this book after a history professor mentioned her casein class. It was not required reading material, but it soundedinteresting.

This book was purely based on historical facts, which often leave out a great deal of detail, but the author addresses some possible implications of certain documentable facts within the trial.

This book is great, and everyone should read it in order to better understand the "Peculiar Institution" of our nation's past.