procedures and litigation

...was hardly told with any sort of talent. This book is a virtually word-for-word historical account of the life and death of Celia; a slave who was tried for killing a master for attempting to defile her. This book tells a story that needs to be told, and on the other end, that needs to be heard, about the extent to which human corruption has been allowed to rampage unchecked in the past of our country.
The problem that human corruption still rampages every bit as unchecked through our current country is not addressed, but rather, the book dwells almost solely on the single incident in question.
I've told you that this story, unlike some stories, deserves to be told, and deserves to be heard. What's truly sad is how the writing style in this book will prevent so many people from actually reading it.
The front cover of the book loudly announces that it is "based on a true story." In fact, it's not "based" on anything. It IS a true story. I define the difference in this way; a story BASED on a true story will sometimes embellish or at least phrase the text in the form of a narrative, for the purpose of providing a single, connected tale that can be followed and appreciated by a casual reader. I read this book because my little brother was assigned it for school reading, and if I had not felt compelled to finish by such a personal motive, I would have dropped it before finishing chapter 1.
Too often in this story, we are told "Celia may have done this," or "evidence supports this belief" or "This may have happened, but we can't prove it," like a crumby history textbook. Still more destructive to this volume is the fact that every two paragraphs or so, the main topic of the novel (Celia, her trial, etc...) is interrupted for a series of incidental and largely irrelivent facts about slavery and the political processes that went into the governments/courts of the time.
Furthermore, on the back of the book, it claims to "produce the kind of anger that never goes away." My anger was principally with the unfeeling tones set by the writer, who would consistently narrate the horrors of the situation as though he were a person virtually impartial to what he was telling us about. The relating of such horrors without seeming the least bit disgusted by them made the writer seem, in my mind, just as odious a creature as any of the people he described, (and didn't describe very well, leaving out, again, like a history text, all things of narrative import, like mood, personality, appearance and so forth.)
Maybe the next time a truly important story of this sort is released, it will be done in a manner that will welcome the casual reader, instead of being something that only a dedicated historian can enjoy.

Celia, A Slave, is a short yet powerful and sobering book. Suitable for age 15 and up, it is for anyone interested in women's/human rights, African-American History, and even Civil War buffs. It is a true story that is difficult to read in some places. Yet it is an important, very different book. I wish everyone would read this book.

The story of Celia, a slave without even a last name, is the story of how impossible justice was for the African-American slaves of the antebellum South. Despite the valiant efforts of her defense attorneys, Celia's trial was a farce; she never had a chance at a fair trial. The judge had determined her fate before the trial commenced. Why did the trial take place even though it was predetermined? The answer lies in the instituition of slavery itself.

At the time of Celia's trial in 1885, slavery was tearing the country apart. In Missouri, where Celia killed her master, pro-slavery forces fierily debated abolitionists over whether or not the Kansas Territory would be settled as a slave or a free state.

The individual players in Celia belonged to the culture of slavery as much as Celia herself. Robert Newsom, Celia's master, was the patriarch of his household. His two adult daughters possessed more legal rights than slaves: albeit not much more. They depended upon their father for their support and survival. If the women felt any sympathy for Celia, who had approached them personally for help, it was likely surpassed by fear of being thrown out by their father.

Rather than point fingers and shake heads in regret of the travesty of justice to Celia, we should think of the present-day inequities that need our attention and commitment. Will we have the courage to see the cause through to the bitter end? Hopefully our efforts will not also be in vain.

In this short book, Melton McLaurin has accomplished more than many historians accomplish in hundreds of pages.

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.