The true rights of us all: Tyranny against free blacks in "To Ravage and Carnally Know."
Between History And Fiction
Apr 16, 2025

With so many of us focused on the fate of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the young Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to an El Salvadoran prison, I found myself thinking about the rights dictated by the U.S. Constitution that we as Americans have taken for granted and assumed we would pass on to our children and grandchildren. (The grandparent part has been particularly pertinent to me these days with the birth of my first grandchildren just weeks away.)

But if we are honest about our history, (which doesn’t seem to be in fashion with certain people these days, but to hell with them) we know these rights that were supposed to apply to all did and do not. Over our 250-year history, people have figured out creative ways to justify withholding those rights from certain people. I don’t need to list them; we all know who they are.

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When reading The New York Times this morning, I stumbled across Jamelle Bouie’s article called “America, This Is an Old and Brutal Tyranny,” which talks about Mr. Garcia being robbed of his due process rights, which Mr. Bouie then connects to the lack of rights for Free Blacks in the antebellum United States, and how many were stolen back into slavery. The most well-known story is that of Solomon Northrup. His book “12 Years a Slave,” chronicles how he, a free black man, was seized, drugged, and sent back to Louisiana where he labored as a slave for a decade before being able to procure his freedom.

This got me thinking about one of my books. “To Ravage And Carnally Know,” is a novel about women during the Revolutionary War. My protagonist, Sarah Carrington, was always supportive of freedom for slaves, and in the story, becomes acquainted with a free black family that is anything but free. It is thought that the revocation of rights for free blacks was only in the American South, but this is a myth. Connecticut, where this book is set, was notorious for taking away the rights of free blacks. The state, which had the distinction of having the most slaves in the North, had tight control over their free blacks. Some towns, such as New London, where my story is set, could remove free blacks from the town even though they had done nothing wrong. They were forbidden to buy land or go into business. Many times, even if freed by their enslavers, they became the responsibility of another white family, and that family could be held liable for their bad behavior if they “stepped out of line.”

In “To Ravage and Carnally Know,” a family moves back to England to escape the war and leaves behind the slave family they owned, which they set free. However, since the town will not let them live independently, they are left under the supervision of the town minister, who gives them land, but only to farm under his tutelage and control. This makes them essentially still slaves, even though their owner gave them their freedom. This leads to Sarah’s intervention, which leads to misinterpretation and ultimately violence. Sarah tries to save the abused wife of the angry free man, but cannot prevent her from being kidnapped and taken to the Carolinas to a cotton plantation. (I’ll let you read the book to find out what happens to Tillie, the slave. Hint: happy ending for her.)

But what is the connection between Mr. Garcia and free blacks? As Jamelle Bouie wrote “The question of who has rights, and of whose rights are to be respected,” is what is tantamount here. The Constitution is clear that all have these unalienable rights. But our history suggests otherwise. It’s time to transcend this and stop cherry-picking who does and who doesn’t. In the past, rights have been withheld from groups such as blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Now, it is currently fashionable to discriminate against transexuals and immigrants. Who will it be in the future? We seem to think we can decide who is worthy of humanity and empathy, and who isn’t. And none of us should want to be part of a cruel legacy that decides.

It is my hope, that by the time my granddaughter is an adult, we will have figured this out, and she will never have to fear being dragged off the street and imprisoned like Mr. Garcia was, or any other American, without their rights being respected and preserved, no matter who they are. Let’s give all our future children the gift of human rights, and let freedom reign.


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