{"product_id":"israel-on-the-appomattox-melvin-patrick-ely-9780679768722","title":"Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s Through the Civil War","description":"\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZEA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAtlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e Editors' Choice\u003c\/b\u003eThomas Jefferson denied that whites and freed blacks could live together in harmony. His cousin, Richard Randolph, not only disagreed, but made it possible for ninety African Americans to prove Jefferson wrong. \u003cb\u003eIsrael on the Appomattox\u003c\/b\u003e tells the story of these liberated blacks and the community they formed, called Israel Hill, in Prince Edward County, Virginia. There, ex-slaves established farms, navigated the Appomattox River, and became entrepreneurs. Free blacks and whites did business with one another, sued each other, worked side by side for equal wages, joined forces to found a Baptist congregation, moved west together, and occasionally settled down as man and wife. Slavery cast its grim shadow, even over the lives of the free, yet on Israel Hill we discover a moving story of hardship and hope that defies our expectations of the Old South.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Melvin Patrick Ely\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0679768726\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780679768722\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/16\/2005\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 656\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.90h x 5.20w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/07\/2005 pg. 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2006 pg. 16","brand":"Melvin Patrick Ely","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46140684665087,"sku":"9780679768722","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ecca7c45-0178-4791-9436-2d6fcfd3a219.jpg?v=1726596741","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/israel-on-the-appomattox-melvin-patrick-ely-9780679768722","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}