THE ROVING EDITOR, OR TALKS WITH SLAVES IN THE SOUTHERN STATES

Redpath, James

ISBN 10: 0271015330 / ISBN 13: 9780271015330

Published by University Park The Pennsylvania State University Press 1996., 1996

About this Item

Fine; Most books shipped within 24 hours. ; B&W Illustration; 8vo.; 356 pages; 0271015330. Binding is Paperback; First Printing.

Seller Inventory # 16101

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE ROVING EDITOR, OR TALKS WITH SLAVES IN THE SOUTHERN STATES
• Publisher: University Park The Pennsylvania State University Press 1996.
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0271015330
• ISBN 13: 9780271015330
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis

While a reporter at Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, James Redpath developed a strong curiosity about slavery and decided that he would travel south "to see slavery with my own eyes." Redpath interviewed slaves, recorded their opinions, and collected these letters into book form, publishing them in 1859 as The Roving Editor. While some historians over the years have utilized Redpath's book, many have treated it as merely another travel account of the antebellum South, dismissing the interviews as the fabrication of a radical abolitionist.

John R. McKivigan has uncovered important historical records that certify for the first time the authenticity of Redpath's interviews; he presents here the original newspaper articles that supply the places and times of many of the slave encounters, which Redpath had edited out of the book. Furthermore, using Redpath's unpublished correspondence, McKivigan verifies his residence in southern communities at the times these interviews were reported to have taken place, making The Roving Editor one of the most valuable and compelling sources of the slaves' own testimony regarding their treatment in the late antebellum period.

About the Author

John R. McKivigan is Associate Professor of History at West Virginia University. He is the co-editor, with John Blassingame, of The Frederick Douglass Papers and author of The War Against Proslavery Religion: Abolitionism and the Northern Churches (1984).