In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South

by John Hope Franklin, Loren Schweninger

The matriarch of a remarkable African American family, Sally Thomas went from being a slave on a tobacco plantation, to a "virtually free" slave who ran her own business and purchased one of her sons out of bondage. In Search of the Promised Land offers a vivid portrait of the extended
Thomas-Rapier family and of the life of slaves before the Civil War.
Based on family letters as well as an autobiography by one of Thomas' sons, this remarkable piece of detective work follows a singular group as they walk the boundary between slave and free, traveling across the country in search of a "promised land" where African Americans would be treated
with respect. Their record of these journeys provides a vivid picture of antebellum America, stretching from New Orleans to St. Louis, from the Overland Trail to the California Gold Rush, and from Civil War battles to steamboat adventures. John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger weave a compelling
narrative that illuminates the larger themes of slavery and freedom. To a remarkable degree, this small family experienced the full gamut of slavery, witnessing everything from the breakup of slave families, brutal punishment, and runaways, to miscegenation, insurrection panics, and slave patrols.
They also illuminate the hidden lives of " virtually free" slaves, who maintained close relationships with whites, maneuvered within the system, and gained a large measure of autonomy.
The Thomas-Rapiers were keen observers of the human condition. Through the eyes of this exceptional family and the indomitable black woman who held them together, we witness aspects of human bondage otherwise hidden from view.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Biography, African American

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

John Hope Franklin, Ph.D. (History, Harvard University, 1941; M.A., History, Harvard U., 1936; B.A., Fisk University, 1935), was the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University. He also had served as President of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read for history class

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Franklin and Schweninger do a great service of assembling a gripping narrative from the letters and correspondence among the members of one slave family over three generations. The authors not only capture the hopes and fears of the Thomas-Rapier family, they also include wonderful details and vivid descriptions to establish a mood and atmosphere of the Civil War era in the decades before and after the conflict. Indeed, this memorable family saga reads like fiction with the way the authors develop the characterizations of each extraordinary family member and the way they capture the emotional burdens and triumphs of their lives. In Search of the Promised Land offers an intimate and compelling look at American slavery through the astonishing real-life tribulations, journeys, and adventures of one extended family.

[Always Forever Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading, In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in The Old South by John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger. While searching the Internet for books written by Dr. Franklin, a 1935 Fisk University graduate, the title of this novel caught my attention, so I checked it out at the library.

When I finally receive the book, I begin to read the prologue. Imagine my surprise when I read words, such as Deaderick Street; Nashville; Davidson County Courthouse; and Tennessee. I am astonished because I attended college in Nashville, and I was going to read about this city and its early beginnings from the viewpoint of a slave. Then, I read the words, Charlottesville, Virginia. I immediately think, "This is the place where Heather Heyer lost her life during the protest on August 12, 2017." The next thing I know, I put down the other book that I was reading, and I begin to read this one with intensity.

A mother' love. A mother's sacrifice. A mother's determination. Dr. Franklin chronicles the life of Sally Thomas, a slave mother who desires only one thing for her children: freedom. Her story begins in Charlottesville, Virginia and then shifts to Nashville, Tennessee. As I read this novel, I keep wondering when Thomas' sons or grandchildren will find their "promised land." Throughout this novel, Sally, her sons, and her grandchildren must navigate their lives during and after the institution of slavery. Do they find their promised land? Reading the novel will answer this question.

My challenge to you
Franklin and Schweninger provide much imagery that is difficult to ignore. Therefore, as you read this novel, allow your mind to experience the Thomas family's journey. Lastly, remember to chime in on what you are reading. Happy reading!

Forever Reading's Rating = 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Olivia Saccucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, so I just finished this book for my American history exam, which is in 9 hours, and I’m not ready (wish me luck).
HOWEVER, I thought this book was going to be boring and painful to get through (cause it was a school assignment) but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a very interesting narrative, that told a unique story on American slavery. I should get studying so I’m not going to comment anymore on the book.
For what it is, it’s good, such a slay from Prof. Bayer!
Pray that I will be able to write an essay on this book though 🙏

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illuminates many aspects of the history of slavery, race, and indeed 19th-century history more broadly through the lens of a single family. I'm so glad this family's story was told, and told well. Unlike most academic history, this employs an engaging narrative format with analysis segregated in the Afterward, which I was surprised to find that I liked. Short and accessible. Would be a great read for a US survey class.

[Jonathan Schneiderman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fascinating and eye-opening. As a piece of historical writing, it's at its best when it lets the primary sources speak for themselves. When the authors take over the narration, their prose has a tendency to veer into the purple.

[Grace (taylor’s version:) · Rating 2 out of 5]

gross had to read this for history class and I am not for it

[Jenn Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Home is where the heart is. This catchy phrase, a soul truth, is one oftentimes employed to encompass the human desire to live in a place that brings peace and comfort in a world filled with “brutality, violence, oppression and degradation.” (p.260) In Search of the Promised Land, written by John Franklin and Loren Schweninger, is a remarkable documentary of a slave family’s search for their true home throughout the 1800’s. Here the authors narrate more than just a story of a slave family living in America’s antebellum south, but grant us a truer lens through which to see a world that only exists for many of us upon the words of pages inside books. They show us how “the boundaries between slavery and freedom were always harsh and menacing but, as it turns out, sometimes more permeable and flexible than we imagine.” (xii)
Drawing upon the letters, newspapers, and journals preserved for a hundred years by the Thomas family, Franklin and Loren map the lives of an extraordinary family through one of our nation’s most tremulous times. It is a tale of Sally Thomas, her sons and grandsons and the unique position they occupied in a time where the color of a person’s skin was a measure of their value, and how, with enough diligence, perseverance and understanding, such a person might come to be respected and valued. The first chapter introduces the beautiful and wise Sally, mother to John H. Rapier Sr., Henry K. Thomas and James P. Thomas; a quasi-free African American slave woman who worked as a laundress and saved to free her children from the bonds of slavery. Sally was a good woman who knew the value of education and worked hard to educate not only her own sons, but also the grandsons she was given to care for. She was able to buy the freedom of two of her sons, and urged her middle child to make the arduous journey on foot northward when she was unable to buy his freedom as well. Such diligence, caring, and unflagging desire to see her family not only freed but respected within their community were her legacy to her family. Franklin and Loren follow the lives of her sons and grandsons. Though each life they followed met with difficult and desperate times, it appears that in the end, they not only survived but flourished for a small time. All of her sons appear to have become barbers, and of their sons – one became a doctor and another became a congressman. This narrative is unique in the fact that it offers the rare opportunity to “compare and contrast race relations in the southern states with conditions in the North, Canada, the Caribbean, and Central America; and to look at changes over time in various parts of the Americas.” (250)
I personally found this narrative very compelling, extraordinarily interesting, and completely captivating. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of this book is the fact that it reads like historical fiction but is real. Each sentence was carefully reconstructed from facts gathered by the authors. I fell in love on the very first page in which it describes the day that James P. Thomas gained his freedom by the aid of Ephraim Foster in a Tennessee courthouse. The first footnote references a newspaper clipping from the very same day in which the weather conditions were printed, and upon which the authors set the scene for such a memorable scene. Such thorough research and literary attentiveness in this work have created a valuable masterpiece and worthy specimen for any library collection.

[Kayla Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in preparation for a trip to Tennessee and as a prep for insights into how to possible work on my husband's genealogy. This book may be a "dry read" to those not interested in those two subjects. But, I was fascinated with the historical research, the mind boggling intricacies of black/white relations in a slave holding yet rather free mingling rough hewn, frontier-like society Tennessee was in the early 1800s. I didn't really know owner's managed, for profit, a slave's trade skill and allowed skilled slaves a degree of business independence. Enough to even buy freedom. This was a side of history I didn't realize and following one slave family's odyssey, their challenges and their choices during such tenuous times as the pre-civil war was enlightening.

I would not recommend this book to others unless they were interested in black history, civil war history, or Tennessee history.

[Twizzlestyx · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite history books. It's fairly short, not too overwhelming, and includes a lot of information on primary source documents and how the historians corroborated the story.

It can be a bit dry for someone who is expecting more of a narrative, and I would not recommend it for anyone who does not have an interest in history.

[CKE387 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family matriarch, quasi-free slave "Sally Thomas could remian legally enslaved while renting a house, establishing a business, raising three boys, providing for her grandchildren, and maintaining amicable relations with whites bears testimony to what could be accomplished within the boundaries of slavery." - Impressive!

[Culli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this tracing of one family through letters, records, & documents, especially since I had Schweniger for a class at UNCG. And didn't he live next door to Giselle on Rankin?

[Troy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parts of it are good but overall not a great read.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of an extended family in the antebellum South and after.