CELIA, A SLAVE

Trade p/back. In 1850, 14yr. old Celia became the property of Robert Newsom, a prosperous and respected Missouri farmer. For the next 5yrs. she was cruelly and repeatedly molested by her abusive master - and bore him 2 children in the process. But in 1855, driven to the limits of her endurance, Celia fought back. And at the tender age of 18, the desperate and frightened young black woman found herself on trial for Newsom's murder - the defendant in a landmark courtroom battle that threatened to undermine the very foundations of the South's most cherished instituion. Based on court records, correspondences and newspaper accounts past and present, this book is a powerful masterwork of passion and scholarship illuminating one of the most extraordinary events in the long, dark history of slavery in America. With Notes, Bibliog. and Index. 178pp. trade p/back. Nr. F. with no creasing to covers.