Customer Reviews

Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slaveowner

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Every now and then, a history comes along that not only offers a fascinating look at a past era, but also manages to hold the reader's interest and entertain. Books like David McCullough's 1776 urge a reader along much like a good novel will do. Daniel L. Schafer's Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley has the same effect.

Schafer establishes the time period based on narratives and first hand research. Documents such as an emancipation notice for a plantation owner's slave Flora Hannahan provide an unvarnished look at the perception of African-Americans in the decades before the civil war: "On the emancipation notice, she is described as 'a mulatto-colored woman of twenty years of age, a native of Florida...about five feet high.'" (pg. 59)

These descriptives are enhanced by photographs of slave quarters as well as descendants of Anna Kingsley.

This book is a solid addition to the personal library, and it would be an excellent classroom resource for teachers of history or language arts. Author Schafer writes with an objective, even-handed approach, and accurately depicts the slave trade in all its characteristics and nuances, including the African natives who colluded with Spanish and English traders and also the elite American plantation owners who enjoyed the benefits of low-cost captive labor.

Aside from its educational value, the book is a good read for anyone interested in Southern culture or Florida history. I don't know Dr. Schafer, but I certainly admire his scholarship and his ability to tell a fascinating story.

Dr. Daniel Schafer, the preeminent scholar of the Kingsley's of Northeast Florida, has written a riveting book exploring Anna, the African Princess turned Slave turned Plantation Owner. Anna is without a doubt one of the most interesting people of Florida's history. She has long been overlooked by historians, but now her story is told. Anna's story sounds like a movie script. Schafer has filled in one of the important blanks of Florida's history.

Can't recommend more highly. This is fascinating history which is well-written and meticulously researched.

Dr. Schafer brings the time period of Anna's life, and the Northeast Florida region to life through the story of Anna Kingsley in his book. Most of this book reads like a novel and his narrative style will keep the pages turning. With the riveting story, you are also given a very well researched story about the events that play out not only for Anna, but for the region and the African descendants who lived there. Though there are some blank spots left in Anna's history due to lack of documents, and the occasional stretching of what few primary documents are available, Dr. Schafer brings what feels like a full picture to the reader.

The only real issues that kept this book from getting five stars in my opinion, were the fact that some primary sources did have to be stretched in order to back up points being made. There are a few instances where it feels that some of these primary sources could be construed in other ways than just how they are presented here. This however can sometimes be necessary and the occurrences are very rare. The other issue was the pacing of the book can leave many readers struggling to finish the book. There comes a point near the end of the book where Dr. Schafer abandons his narrative style to lay out the genealogies of many of the area's residents. This chapter is sandwiched between two narrative chapters and probably could have been presented in an appendix.

Overall this book was very fascinating and Dr. Schafer's research leaves the reader with a very strong sense of being able to trust in his interpretation of the past.

Anna Madgigine Jai was a teenager (and possibly a Senegalese princess) when she was captured in her homeland and sold into slavery during a civil war in 1806. She was later purchased in Cuba by Zephaniah Kingsley, Jr., and taken to his St. Johns River plantation in northeast Florida where she became his household manager, his wife, and eventually the mother of four of his children. Her husband emancipated her in 1811, and she became the owner of her own farm and twelve slaves. The latter is not surprising since, under Spanish control, slavery was considered neither a permanent condition nor the God-given role of black people. Slaves had opportunities to buy their freedom, or owners could liberate them without penalty; free black persons were an accepted part of the caste system, able to acquire wealth and property and pass it along to their children.

While Florida was under Spanish control, Anna lived a relatively tranquil life for 25 years as a free black woman. But when Florida came under American control - which brought the racist demand that blacks should only be slaves, not free, and which outlawed interracial marriages - she and her children migrated to a colony in Haiti established by her husband as a refuge for free blacks. Despite spiraling racial tensions of the antebellum period, Anna returned to north Florida where she bought and sold land, sued white people in the courts, and became a central figure in a free black community. Kingsley Plantation at Fort George Island is now undergoing restoration by the National Park Service.

This fascinating history of one remarkable woman provides an eye-opening exploration of larger issues, in particular the complexities of slavery. To reconstruct her story - which meant deconstructing some legends, the author draws upon a wide variety of sources, both in Africa and the New World. This book will be of interest to Florida history buffs as well as African American studies.