Customer Reviews

Woman of Color, Daughter of Privilege: Amanda America Dickson, 1849-1893 (Brown Thrasher Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book and even saw the author speak. I am a lawyer and the coverage of the trial and appeal is fascinating. This story is a great biography but spoke to me of the power of the jury system and reinvigorated my belief in the American justice system. The local history for those of us in Georgia is also excellent.

I first saw the movie, A House Divided and searched out and found out that there was a book. I read the book and i recommend this book for everyone to read. It is a good book. If you haven't seen the movie. SEE IT! the author that wrote this book should be commended. He did a very good job. I am about to write a paper for my history class on this book. Linda D. Westman Mannsville, Oklahoma

I recommend this book to readers who are American historians (novice or otherwise), those wanting to know more about American life and race relations, and to those who are interested in Black Women's Studies. I love studying American history generally, and particularly as it concerns African American females. Amanda's mother's story was as interesting to me in some ways as Amanda's story; there are two life histories being told here. This book shed light on the lengths that interracial families went to protect their loved ones under a system of aparthteid in early America. It tells a different story of America. One filled with more promise.

I finished this over Thanksgiving. My mom flipped through it, as did several other family members, asking was it a dissertation. I did not think that it was, but discovered my error in the Acknowledgements. I have a special affection for scholarly works that are compelling reading. The genius of non-fiction is a story that would not be believable if made up.

Leslie documents every assertion, and includes transcripts of interviews and court proceedings so that there can be little question of context. The intermittent inclusion of belabored detail is a little odd to the casual reader, but there is often a gem in a table or list which helps transport the reader back over a 100 years (a list of schools in Augusta includes the only public one for blacks in the state - and that segregated, of course).

The story itself is stunning (grown plantation owner forcibly rapes 13 year old slave girl before her first period, "getting" upon her a b*stard half breed upon whom he dotes all his life and to whom he leaves all that he has, making her the richest "colored" woman in America), but aside from the drama which unfolds chronologically in such a way that without device one is compelled to keep reading, one is almost by the way exposed to an entire sub-culture of "people of color" whose character, enterprise, integrity, ability, and or good fortune prevailed against all odds to create a world of privilege, the survival of which depended in part upon being invisible to less affluent whites. One of them married the grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence!

Leslie presents the product of research of a phenomenon without mediated moralizing. Nor does the author speculate upon motive beyond presenting the range of possibilities. This volume belongs on your shelf next to Thurmond's Freedom, Meyer's The Children of Pride, and Reese's The Clamorous Malcontents, especially if you are a Georgian.

Hello,
This past Thanksgiving I found out this book is about my grandfather's side of the family: the Dicksons. I don't know much else, but I plan to read this book and investigate!

Hi my name is Ashlee Dickson and I am a descendent of Amanda America Dickson. I am very apprieciative to the people who have read the book and reviewed the website. I am also proud of my heritage and what she has done for the people of America. I am proud to be a Dickson.I am John R. Dickson's daughter's child. Thank you for your time.

Hi my name is Ashlee Dickson and I am a descendent of Amanda America Dickson. I am very appriciative to the people who have read the book and reviewed the website. I am also proud of my heritage and what she has done for the people of America. I am proud to be a Dickson.I am John R. Dickson's daughter's child. Thank you for your time.