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The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire
Winner of the Ray Allen Billington Prize and the Phillis Wheatley Book Award
"An American 'Odyssey,' the larger-than-life story of a man who travels far in the wake of war and gets by on his adaptability and gift for gab." ― Wall Street Journal A black child born on the US-Mexico border in the twilight of slavery, William Ellis inhabited a world divided along ambiguous racial lines. Adopting the name Guillermo Eliseo, he passed as Mexican, transcending racial lines to become fabulously wealthy as a Wall Street banker, diplomat, and owner of scores of mines and haciendas south of the border. In The Strange Career of William Ellis , prize-winning historian Karl Jacoby weaves an astonishing tale of cunning and scandal, offering fresh insights on the history of the Reconstruction era, the US-Mexico border, and the abiding riddle of race in America. 8 pages of illustrations
"An American 'Odyssey,' the larger-than-life story of a man who travels far in the wake of war and gets by on his adaptability and gift for gab." ― Wall Street Journal A black child born on the US-Mexico border in the twilight of slavery, William Ellis inhabited a world divided along ambiguous racial lines. Adopting the name Guillermo Eliseo, he passed as Mexican, transcending racial lines to become fabulously wealthy as a Wall Street banker, diplomat, and owner of scores of mines and haciendas south of the border. In The Strange Career of William Ellis , prize-winning historian Karl Jacoby weaves an astonishing tale of cunning and scandal, offering fresh insights on the history of the Reconstruction era, the US-Mexico border, and the abiding riddle of race in America. 8 pages of illustrations
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 13, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
August 22, 2016
A very strange book. As a biography this gets about a 1.5* but as for a history of US/Mexican and Black/Mexican relations it is a 4****.
I say this because for at least the first half of the book William Ellis is really nowhere to be found. A mention here or there but most all of this is about those who went back and forth between the US and Mexico and how black slaves could pass themselves off in the US as Mexicans. It was a really informative book with regards to societal situations in the 1800's.
What I gleaned from the book about William Ellis is about Zero. Nothing is really known about his early life and for allegedly being a millionaire he died with huge debts and only $15,000. He seemed more of a con artist or "trickster" as the book calls him near the end. He never really worked but was an idea man. Settling Mexico with former slaves, supplying slaves to work on plantations in Mexico, etc. None of this really worked out. And so I am left with a very incomplete story of the man but a great history of society.
I say this because for at least the first half of the book William Ellis is really nowhere to be found. A mention here or there but most all of this is about those who went back and forth between the US and Mexico and how black slaves could pass themselves off in the US as Mexicans. It was a really informative book with regards to societal situations in the 1800's.
What I gleaned from the book about William Ellis is about Zero. Nothing is really known about his early life and for allegedly being a millionaire he died with huge debts and only $15,000. He seemed more of a con artist or "trickster" as the book calls him near the end. He never really worked but was an idea man. Settling Mexico with former slaves, supplying slaves to work on plantations in Mexico, etc. None of this really worked out. And so I am left with a very incomplete story of the man but a great history of society.
February 22, 2024
Unclear where he actually got all that money since all his businesses failed but cool book anyway
February 9, 2024
This gripping biography of William Henry Ellis is a book understated in its importance to both African American and Latin American histories. The book, through its vast primary sources, avoids fictionalizing or over-dramatizing the story of Ellis and offers a captivating and educational biography of a complicated man. It also challenges the layout of a typical history book; weaving back and forth between research methods and historical events, connected by the impressive chameleon life of Ellis. At times, his story seems secondary to a landscape of, not only Black life in the post-Civil War South, but also of Mexican politics, American politics, and important historical events. Every time the book delves into detailed political or historical information, and you wonder when Ellis will return, everything is pulled back together like the laces of Ellis’s custom-made Mexican business flats. The way Ellis pops in and out of history in different locations, from struggles to roaring successes, is what keeps you reading and motivates you to learn more about this timeline.
Ellis starts his life on a plantation, a child of parents enslaved by the Weisiger family of Victoria, Texas. He’s born into one of the most tumultuous times in American history and yet seems to circumnavigate it like a pro. He was dedicated to learning Spanish at an early age and took the opportunity to spread his entrepreneurial wings almost as soon as the rail lines came to his hometown. It’s hard to get a real feel for what Ellis was thinking, feeling, and sometimes doing, during the time period of this book without personal journal entries or greater volumes of letters, but we do get an idea of his thoughts from his actions alone. He understood well the opportunities available to him as a perceived Latino man and who can blame him for not wanting to let that go once he found it. He was clearly hopeful for African American prosperity, apprenticing himself with the politician Norris Cuney, who rallied for Black representation in the Reconstruction South. Ellis soon after tried to run for office himself, with unwanted results (69). US Politics were a risky place for him to be anyway, and his close association with Black leadership always kept him on the edge of being exposed. However, he would go on to work with another politician, Henry Turner, on a plan for Mexican Colonization of African Americans, and later, with a talented promoter known as “Peg Leg” Williams. The colonies didn’t work out as planned, however that didn’t stop Ellis from trying to help African Americans, without being ousted at one himself. I think that’s one thing I found so interesting about the book, and it made me wish even more that Ellis had kept a diary. To know his inner thoughts when working with men like Cuney, who wholeheartedly despised men who “passed”, and later when he met Emperor Menelik II, who represented so much to African Americans at the time (72, 146). To be dedicated to a cause, believing that your facade might be the best way to achieve your goals despite everything, would be frustrating to say the least. Ellis wasn’t always seen in a good light to other African Americans. Passing is a controversial issue, then and now, but it’s an important part of history and one we can learn a lot from.
His “betrayal” as some saw it, often left him alienated, but in other ways he became a sort of folktale himself when the first African American to produce a Broadway show created The Oyster Man, incorporating elements of Ellis’s life (158). The book, several times, compares Ellis to the African American folktale theme of “The Trickster”. The tale of “The Trickster" is inspired from African folklore and later adapted for the African American experience and includes such famous stories as Brer Rabbit. One site defines “The Trickster” as “animals or characters who, while ostensibly disadvantaged and weak in a contest of wills, power, and/or resources, succeed in getting the best of their larger, more powerful adversaries”. In American folklore, the tales are often subversive and offer a serious commentary about the enslavement and inequalities that Black people suffer. The book states that “[Ellis] succeeded against great odds in subverting the dominant society’s notions of racial authenticity, crafting a counterfeit persona that [also] represented a deeper, truer self” (xxvii). This comparison places him deeply within the criteria of “The Trickster”, acting as both the protagonist and, his existence, as the subversive act itself. In modern American English however, I feel like the word “Trickster” has a much more negative connotation than the folktale intends, and it makes me wonder how the etymology of the word came about. Learning that a classic story from my childhood, Brer Rabbit, and Ellis’s life, are both in that category, it greatly changes my perceptions of the word.
Ellis’s life after leaving Victoria, Texas during reconstruction, is a fantastic one. Few people, even today, are so well traveled, business savvy, bilingual, and charming as Ellis and it was amazing to see traces of him show up in documents of all kinds, across borders and class lines. One thing that I noticed was how his life affected other people and the relationships he made, given his secret, his identity, and the time he lived in. He wrote to and sent money to his family, and maintained a letter relationship with Teddy Roosevelt, however, he didn’t seem to maintain many long-term relationships with people. His own wife and children were deprived of his presence much of the time, as he visited Ethiopia, Mexico, his office on Wall Street, and various other places throughout their lives. Despite this, his eldest son, nephew Charles and niece, Margarite, seemed to have a good perception of him. He also wasn’t a perfect man by any means, as no one is. Aside from his nationality swapping deceptions, which he honed to an amazing degree, he was at times entrenched in a couple very real crimes, like an assault on a young woman, and the death of a friend on a boat trip to Ethiopia. He was also, to a less favorable degree than in The Oyster Man, represented in a play called In Abyssinia. This play included a critique about his visit with the Emperor of Ethiopia being for Ellis’s own notoriety and financial gain (159). Alternately, he was a fantastic businessman, a spectacular actor, a promoter of new and better lives for African Americans and the first African American to visit Ethiopia. He was an endlessly complicated figure in history and this book is an impressive collection of his path around the world via strenuously gathered evidence. A definite must read for anyone interested in African American history, border relations, Mexican history, and more generally, mysterious and fascinating people that history needs to remember.
Ellis starts his life on a plantation, a child of parents enslaved by the Weisiger family of Victoria, Texas. He’s born into one of the most tumultuous times in American history and yet seems to circumnavigate it like a pro. He was dedicated to learning Spanish at an early age and took the opportunity to spread his entrepreneurial wings almost as soon as the rail lines came to his hometown. It’s hard to get a real feel for what Ellis was thinking, feeling, and sometimes doing, during the time period of this book without personal journal entries or greater volumes of letters, but we do get an idea of his thoughts from his actions alone. He understood well the opportunities available to him as a perceived Latino man and who can blame him for not wanting to let that go once he found it. He was clearly hopeful for African American prosperity, apprenticing himself with the politician Norris Cuney, who rallied for Black representation in the Reconstruction South. Ellis soon after tried to run for office himself, with unwanted results (69). US Politics were a risky place for him to be anyway, and his close association with Black leadership always kept him on the edge of being exposed. However, he would go on to work with another politician, Henry Turner, on a plan for Mexican Colonization of African Americans, and later, with a talented promoter known as “Peg Leg” Williams. The colonies didn’t work out as planned, however that didn’t stop Ellis from trying to help African Americans, without being ousted at one himself. I think that’s one thing I found so interesting about the book, and it made me wish even more that Ellis had kept a diary. To know his inner thoughts when working with men like Cuney, who wholeheartedly despised men who “passed”, and later when he met Emperor Menelik II, who represented so much to African Americans at the time (72, 146). To be dedicated to a cause, believing that your facade might be the best way to achieve your goals despite everything, would be frustrating to say the least. Ellis wasn’t always seen in a good light to other African Americans. Passing is a controversial issue, then and now, but it’s an important part of history and one we can learn a lot from.
His “betrayal” as some saw it, often left him alienated, but in other ways he became a sort of folktale himself when the first African American to produce a Broadway show created The Oyster Man, incorporating elements of Ellis’s life (158). The book, several times, compares Ellis to the African American folktale theme of “The Trickster”. The tale of “The Trickster" is inspired from African folklore and later adapted for the African American experience and includes such famous stories as Brer Rabbit. One site defines “The Trickster” as “animals or characters who, while ostensibly disadvantaged and weak in a contest of wills, power, and/or resources, succeed in getting the best of their larger, more powerful adversaries”. In American folklore, the tales are often subversive and offer a serious commentary about the enslavement and inequalities that Black people suffer. The book states that “[Ellis] succeeded against great odds in subverting the dominant society’s notions of racial authenticity, crafting a counterfeit persona that [also] represented a deeper, truer self” (xxvii). This comparison places him deeply within the criteria of “The Trickster”, acting as both the protagonist and, his existence, as the subversive act itself. In modern American English however, I feel like the word “Trickster” has a much more negative connotation than the folktale intends, and it makes me wonder how the etymology of the word came about. Learning that a classic story from my childhood, Brer Rabbit, and Ellis’s life, are both in that category, it greatly changes my perceptions of the word.
Ellis’s life after leaving Victoria, Texas during reconstruction, is a fantastic one. Few people, even today, are so well traveled, business savvy, bilingual, and charming as Ellis and it was amazing to see traces of him show up in documents of all kinds, across borders and class lines. One thing that I noticed was how his life affected other people and the relationships he made, given his secret, his identity, and the time he lived in. He wrote to and sent money to his family, and maintained a letter relationship with Teddy Roosevelt, however, he didn’t seem to maintain many long-term relationships with people. His own wife and children were deprived of his presence much of the time, as he visited Ethiopia, Mexico, his office on Wall Street, and various other places throughout their lives. Despite this, his eldest son, nephew Charles and niece, Margarite, seemed to have a good perception of him. He also wasn’t a perfect man by any means, as no one is. Aside from his nationality swapping deceptions, which he honed to an amazing degree, he was at times entrenched in a couple very real crimes, like an assault on a young woman, and the death of a friend on a boat trip to Ethiopia. He was also, to a less favorable degree than in The Oyster Man, represented in a play called In Abyssinia. This play included a critique about his visit with the Emperor of Ethiopia being for Ellis’s own notoriety and financial gain (159). Alternately, he was a fantastic businessman, a spectacular actor, a promoter of new and better lives for African Americans and the first African American to visit Ethiopia. He was an endlessly complicated figure in history and this book is an impressive collection of his path around the world via strenuously gathered evidence. A definite must read for anyone interested in African American history, border relations, Mexican history, and more generally, mysterious and fascinating people that history needs to remember.
May 16, 2020
What a cool book! Jacoby put together an interesting portrait of a fascinating character who was born into slavery and then took on multiple identities in order to evade racism and in hopes of building a fortune. It started slow and just ended up as absolutely fascinating...
October 31, 2019
Fantastic book. Great research and really amazing story.
March 7, 2021
I felt like was reading a version of Catch Me if You Can about the complexity of race during the gilded age.
October 3, 2016
The Strange Career of William Ellis is a fascinating story. Prior to reading it I had no awareness of an effort to encourage African American emigration to Mexico after Emancipation--or how former slaves would’ve considered such a move feasible.
This isn’t so much a William Ellis biography as an examination of the troubled racial, political, and trade history between the US and Mexico, especially along the Texas/Mexico border. Ellis' life often seems incidental with writer Karl Jacoby trying to shoehorn him into the narrative and elevate his importance to certain minor historical events.
The author has written the book in quite a highbrow style. Those who rarely read scholarly-ish works might find the long, complex sentence structure difficult and a bit of a slog to get through.
However, The Strange Career of William Ellis succeeds as an untold saga that perhaps deserves a place on either the big or small screen. Maybe actor Terrance Howard as the racially-fluid Ellis?
This isn’t so much a William Ellis biography as an examination of the troubled racial, political, and trade history between the US and Mexico, especially along the Texas/Mexico border. Ellis' life often seems incidental with writer Karl Jacoby trying to shoehorn him into the narrative and elevate his importance to certain minor historical events.
The author has written the book in quite a highbrow style. Those who rarely read scholarly-ish works might find the long, complex sentence structure difficult and a bit of a slog to get through.
However, The Strange Career of William Ellis succeeds as an untold saga that perhaps deserves a place on either the big or small screen. Maybe actor Terrance Howard as the racially-fluid Ellis?
May 5, 2018
I like history that looks at topics I'm not familiar with. This fit the bill. It primarily covers race relations on the Texas/Mexico border in the 1800s and early 1900s, particularly the concept of "passing" whereby light skinned blacks passed themselves off as a different racial background in order to get around the racial codes. It's the passing part, with its elements of con man skills, that really caught my eye.
It's not a popular history book like Erik Larson might do, so the academic writing might be a little tough to get through for many as it was for me. It's fascinating to see some of the same racial arguments about immigration being made then as we see today. Some things I wasn't aware of popped up like mass immigration of former slaves to escape racial discrimination and violence in the US. Lots of problems for passers were interesting like having to effectively abandon one's family and community in order to pull it off, while then finding it difficult to, say, find a wife as a result.
So while there were lots of interesting bits, I found I just wasn't that interested in the topic. The academic style dragged out the story with detours to satisfy other academics, and if you take all that out there wasn't enough left to the story to fill a book. I had to keep dragging myself back to the book in order to finish. I'd probably be happier with an abridged version.
It's not a popular history book like Erik Larson might do, so the academic writing might be a little tough to get through for many as it was for me. It's fascinating to see some of the same racial arguments about immigration being made then as we see today. Some things I wasn't aware of popped up like mass immigration of former slaves to escape racial discrimination and violence in the US. Lots of problems for passers were interesting like having to effectively abandon one's family and community in order to pull it off, while then finding it difficult to, say, find a wife as a result.
So while there were lots of interesting bits, I found I just wasn't that interested in the topic. The academic style dragged out the story with detours to satisfy other academics, and if you take all that out there wasn't enough left to the story to fill a book. I had to keep dragging myself back to the book in order to finish. I'd probably be happier with an abridged version.
February 7, 2019
I finally read it!
This is not a dense academic read or a dry historical essay. It's such a well-written book that draws you into the world as it was unfolding during the Reconstruction era up until the death of Guillermo Ellis in the 1900s in Mexico and the US. It narrates the story of Guillermo a former enslaved black man in Texas who manages to "pass" as Mexican/Cuban/Hawaiian/white in order to achieve his goals (mostly capitalistic). However, the book also narrates the stories of these two countries--entering the industrial age in the name of "progress," contending with borders and the periphery, nationalism. Basically, a story of nation-building projects. There is much to discuss and I learned a lot. Worth it.
This is not a dense academic read or a dry historical essay. It's such a well-written book that draws you into the world as it was unfolding during the Reconstruction era up until the death of Guillermo Ellis in the 1900s in Mexico and the US. It narrates the story of Guillermo a former enslaved black man in Texas who manages to "pass" as Mexican/Cuban/Hawaiian/white in order to achieve his goals (mostly capitalistic). However, the book also narrates the stories of these two countries--entering the industrial age in the name of "progress," contending with borders and the periphery, nationalism. Basically, a story of nation-building projects. There is much to discuss and I learned a lot. Worth it.
July 8, 2016
William Henry Ellis, born into slavery and emancipated with his family, reinvented himself as Guillermo Enrique Eliseo, claiming to be Mexican, Cuban, and even Hawaiian. These alternative identities let him pass as "not black" in the late 19th century's Gilded Age. Unlike many African Americans who passed, Ellis sought fame and fortune through well publicized financial and political activities. Karl Jacoby draws on a wide range of sources and has produced a readable account of the period. Ellis himself remains somewhat opaque as to his motivations and personality, a consequence of the fact that he left little personal material or writings.
July 5, 2016
Very interesting--the author managed to find a lot of information on this enigmatic figure, who obscured his identity throughout a large portion of his life. He didn't just "pass" for white; he called himself Mexican when it suited him, spoke fluent Spanish, and did a lot of business in Mexico. He was an entrepreneur, mostly, but sometimes a bit of a con man, but also a person who wanted to help others get more opportunities. A very interesting man, overall, and a great piece of creative non-fiction by the author.
October 8, 2017
This book is full of speculation and innuendo. Apparently not enough research was done or even available, and for good reason, Ellis wanted it that way. Simple fact is the guy was a con who died penniless. Why Jacoby would portray him as some kind of hero millionaire is beyond me. Jacoby couldn't even explain where Ellis supposedly got his money or started his business. So the guy managed to pass himself off as white? So what? Many have. That doesn't make a book.
June 12, 2025
i wish there was more about ellis in this book, but the history and background about america and mexico and the border lines was all super interesting. i read this for class and it was the first book i actually decently enjoyed from that teacher’s classes. this educated me on a lot of stuff and had interesting facts and photos about a man i had never even knew existed before reading this
May 26, 2024
Few are the books that compel me to read an afterword; this was one of them.
The final line of the Epilogue foregrounds an ethical argument that Jacoby embodies in his historical biography of William Ellis: "It will require us to recognize that we all inhabit a mestizo, mulatto America - and that surmounting the boundaries that separate us is our mutual project." As he strives for in the preface, Jacoby admirably takes on a tall task: to foreground the biography of William Ellis, also known as Guillermo Elisio, in crafting a history of America that bridges the color (racial/ethnic) and national (US/Mexican) lines that remains prominent in our conceptualization of history. In so doing, he traverses the life of William Ellis in relation to the key events of the times that shaped and reproduced many of the "remarkl[y] resilie[nt]" social structures of our day: race and nationality. Jacoby divides the book into three parts: Victoria (slavery, the civil war, emancipation, reconstruction & expansion, annexation, rival economies of cotton farming v. cattle ranching); San Antonio/Tlahualilo (modernization, railway construction, electoral politics in the reconstruction era, colonization movements - Liberia and Ellis' championed Mexico, the Porfiriato, and a furniture empire); and Manhattan/Mexico City (wall street, diplomatic relationship with King Menelik II of Abyssinia, rubber production, waterways and dams, the Mexican revolution, pan-Africanism & Black intellectuals).
I will reserve to historians and other social scientists to debate the representation and nuances of the historical moments and processes elaborated in the book, which certainly hold, for each and every topic, a library of research; my review is far more humble in scope and reflects simply on two points: (1) the incredible appeal - to me - of this genre, if I may so call it, of history - by which foregrounding a person breaks the silos demanded by social boundaries and encourages, through the lived eyes of the human experience, a new methodology for understanding and learning from a shared history, and (2) the incredible complexity of transgressing borders with the practices of a 'trickster,' both racial through passing and national through migration and, undergirding these forms of social play movement both political through social networks and economic through class mobility.
I learned a lot in this book about historical events, processes and institutions I had never been aware of (the Porfiriato, the Mexican revolution, King Menelik II, and industry) - at the same time, things that I had previously known (slavery to reconstruction, WEB DuBois v. Booker T Washington, Pan-Africanism, passing, colonialism, etc.), I suddenly saw from a new perspective; that of Ellis' through Jacoby. This discovery was my favorite - and chief among them, the connections drawn across the many borders.
Ellis; what a fascinating and problematic man, as all people tend to be. The afterword was emotional - to see how this academic venture forged a new union between a family separated by the very history being told. Kudos to the author for this work. It is an understatement to say that; as a sociologist, reader, and overall nerd who nevertheless is always on the search for entertainment; this book was a whirlwind.
I will end by saying, this story could be a motion picture - or many. The ethical argument advanced by the book, while compelling, also creates, in its own way, a potential for the very erasure and division that it aims to eliminate; still, it is an interesting perspective to join and content in relation to our entrenched views of race and citizenship.
*Bought at the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati as a gift for my northern Mexican partner's nationalization ceremony.
The final line of the Epilogue foregrounds an ethical argument that Jacoby embodies in his historical biography of William Ellis: "It will require us to recognize that we all inhabit a mestizo, mulatto America - and that surmounting the boundaries that separate us is our mutual project." As he strives for in the preface, Jacoby admirably takes on a tall task: to foreground the biography of William Ellis, also known as Guillermo Elisio, in crafting a history of America that bridges the color (racial/ethnic) and national (US/Mexican) lines that remains prominent in our conceptualization of history. In so doing, he traverses the life of William Ellis in relation to the key events of the times that shaped and reproduced many of the "remarkl[y] resilie[nt]" social structures of our day: race and nationality. Jacoby divides the book into three parts: Victoria (slavery, the civil war, emancipation, reconstruction & expansion, annexation, rival economies of cotton farming v. cattle ranching); San Antonio/Tlahualilo (modernization, railway construction, electoral politics in the reconstruction era, colonization movements - Liberia and Ellis' championed Mexico, the Porfiriato, and a furniture empire); and Manhattan/Mexico City (wall street, diplomatic relationship with King Menelik II of Abyssinia, rubber production, waterways and dams, the Mexican revolution, pan-Africanism & Black intellectuals).
I will reserve to historians and other social scientists to debate the representation and nuances of the historical moments and processes elaborated in the book, which certainly hold, for each and every topic, a library of research; my review is far more humble in scope and reflects simply on two points: (1) the incredible appeal - to me - of this genre, if I may so call it, of history - by which foregrounding a person breaks the silos demanded by social boundaries and encourages, through the lived eyes of the human experience, a new methodology for understanding and learning from a shared history, and (2) the incredible complexity of transgressing borders with the practices of a 'trickster,' both racial through passing and national through migration and, undergirding these forms of social play movement both political through social networks and economic through class mobility.
I learned a lot in this book about historical events, processes and institutions I had never been aware of (the Porfiriato, the Mexican revolution, King Menelik II, and industry) - at the same time, things that I had previously known (slavery to reconstruction, WEB DuBois v. Booker T Washington, Pan-Africanism, passing, colonialism, etc.), I suddenly saw from a new perspective; that of Ellis' through Jacoby. This discovery was my favorite - and chief among them, the connections drawn across the many borders.
Ellis; what a fascinating and problematic man, as all people tend to be. The afterword was emotional - to see how this academic venture forged a new union between a family separated by the very history being told. Kudos to the author for this work. It is an understatement to say that; as a sociologist, reader, and overall nerd who nevertheless is always on the search for entertainment; this book was a whirlwind.
I will end by saying, this story could be a motion picture - or many. The ethical argument advanced by the book, while compelling, also creates, in its own way, a potential for the very erasure and division that it aims to eliminate; still, it is an interesting perspective to join and content in relation to our entrenched views of race and citizenship.
*Bought at the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati as a gift for my northern Mexican partner's nationalization ceremony.
December 14, 2023
This is a very interesting story of the ways in which Ellis had to engage in a great many artifices of self in order to secure the spoils of American capitalism. Actor, wardrobe and set designer, and publicist were all occupations he engaged in order to convincingly play the roles of Mexican, Cuban, an Hawaiian, roles which enabled him to play ball in a rigged against race and in favor of the wealthy. He still was able to retain his own identity and relationships with family through it all. He is not a moral hero in the sense that capitalist heroes rarely are. Wealth requires the existence and/or perpetuation poverty and usually the use of the poor. But he batted in the big leagues, and that was a phenomenal feat. There are some lulls in this book, but in the end I think it realized this important story as well as it possibly could.
The author did have a strange account of an attempted rape that betrayed his own inability to transcend gender. When Ellis was operating as an uncontested white Wall Street investor with an office next door to J.P. Morgan, a woman who came for a job interview as a secretary accused him of lunging at her. A not unlikely story as this happens to women all too often. If the accusation was true, the author's characterization of the event, "Although the police eventually dropped the charges against Ellis for lack of evidence, this disquieting episode casts in sharp relief the distortions imposed on a passer's personal life," is a benighted and one-sided look at sexual assault. This was a very difficult sentence to encounter in the course of an otherwise thoughtful and sensitive book. I don't know why passing would impose the willing to rape upon a man. But nary a one of us is perfect.
The author did have a strange account of an attempted rape that betrayed his own inability to transcend gender. When Ellis was operating as an uncontested white Wall Street investor with an office next door to J.P. Morgan, a woman who came for a job interview as a secretary accused him of lunging at her. A not unlikely story as this happens to women all too often. If the accusation was true, the author's characterization of the event, "Although the police eventually dropped the charges against Ellis for lack of evidence, this disquieting episode casts in sharp relief the distortions imposed on a passer's personal life," is a benighted and one-sided look at sexual assault. This was a very difficult sentence to encounter in the course of an otherwise thoughtful and sensitive book. I don't know why passing would impose the willing to rape upon a man. But nary a one of us is perfect.
March 29, 2019
This book is a masterpiece. It brings to life the exploits and experiences of the book’s namesake William Henry Ellis as he, a former slave freed at the end of the USA Civil War, passed as a Mexican, a Cuban, a Hawaiian, and in all those guises not as a Black/African American. Ellis was an economic influencer in Mexico, New York City, and Addis Ababa (!), a man of many projects and schemes to make money and better the Negro’s position and opportunity in two nations, well respected, wealthy, politically astute, and complex to the nth degree. Jacoby’s biography of Ellis is also a compelling history and analysis of race, of what constituted USA-Mexican border life In the late 1800s and early 1900s, of Mexico’s growth and aspirations under Porfirio Diaz’ leadership, and of the sundry ways racism has permeated and shaped both of the bordering republics for 200 years. I am so glad I read it - I’ve learned a lot about a lot. In light of arguments and perceptions of Mexico and Mexicans that have been arising and expanding since the 2016 official onset of the tumultuous Trump administration l think this book will open wide the eyes of any who read it to the lasting impacts of racism on individuals, families, and countries alike. I recommend it!
January 17, 2018
As a biography this is skimpy, but not for lack of research or effort. The author sets up the geographical and social setting, telling more about the peculiar ideas of race at the turn of the last century. Considering the current political climate concerning Hispanic people it is interesting that a hundred years ago most would be considered white and granted privileges and rights they seldom see today.
William Henry Ellis was a light skinned African American who spoke Spanish and passed as white. Mostly as Mexican, but he claimed Cuban and Hawaiian ancestry when it was a better fit. Since few records survived there's not much to go on besides newspaper stories. Ellis's own words make up a few paragraphs in the entire book.
Jacoby refers to Ellis as a trickster but hustler is probably more appropriate. He was a man who worked to pull himself out of poverty, took risky and questionable opportunities, created an affluent image that attracted attention and changed his alliances when said allies fell out of favor. It isn't meant as an insult. Ellis used the politics of segregation against itself and largely won.
William Henry Ellis was a light skinned African American who spoke Spanish and passed as white. Mostly as Mexican, but he claimed Cuban and Hawaiian ancestry when it was a better fit. Since few records survived there's not much to go on besides newspaper stories. Ellis's own words make up a few paragraphs in the entire book.
Jacoby refers to Ellis as a trickster but hustler is probably more appropriate. He was a man who worked to pull himself out of poverty, took risky and questionable opportunities, created an affluent image that attracted attention and changed his alliances when said allies fell out of favor. It isn't meant as an insult. Ellis used the politics of segregation against itself and largely won.
February 20, 2019
It seems almost impossible that William Ellis, a child of black slaves and himself born into slavery, could reinvent himself as a white person. Or rather a Mexican, or a Cuba or Hawaiian. But he did and it only unraveled upon is death. In addition he was the consummate wheeler dealer who claimed great wealth. And at times he achieved that wealth.
So how did he do it? He practiced “passing,” that is passing yourself off as white. He was incredibly successful at this, as were other light-skinned Negroes following the Civil War. He added to his new persona by also speaking fluent Spanish.
Incredibly well researched and wonderfully written, it added to my knowledge of of an aspect of Texas history I knew nothing about. Thanks to my Texas-centric book club member, Ann, for the recommendation!
So how did he do it? He practiced “passing,” that is passing yourself off as white. He was incredibly successful at this, as were other light-skinned Negroes following the Civil War. He added to his new persona by also speaking fluent Spanish.
Incredibly well researched and wonderfully written, it added to my knowledge of of an aspect of Texas history I knew nothing about. Thanks to my Texas-centric book club member, Ann, for the recommendation!
June 23, 2020
With everything we see now pertaining to race, right down to the Census, this book is a must read. It isn't dry by any means and gives you a totally different view of the Civil War into the Gilded Age. I personally was completely unaware that this kind of situation was ever a thing, so this book really was an eye opener.
The author mixes lots of explanations of the politics of America and Mexico at a time of the Jim Crow laws were enforced. The author tells us about how race even tore families apart in unexpected ways. This book cleared up a lot of blank spots in my knowledge of historical events.
The author mixes lots of explanations of the politics of America and Mexico at a time of the Jim Crow laws were enforced. The author tells us about how race even tore families apart in unexpected ways. This book cleared up a lot of blank spots in my knowledge of historical events.
June 27, 2018
i would recommend this book only because the historical period it is set in was pivotal to mexican american relationships. Ellis is somehow connected to that historical outcome, sure. But more importanty the mother of all modern american race relations was established within this same period in which the u.s. adopted the pure "white" and just "black" census standards. Ellis is an excellent person to illuminate the political fallout from the u.s. census race theory that is still broadly influential today.
October 8, 2020
What a wild ride! This book follows the life of William Ellis, who was born as a slave in Texas during the late 19th century. He uses his ambiguous skin color to his advantage as he creates a new identity for himself with the name Guillermo Eliseo to become a successful businessman in Mexico and New York. This book was so much more than I thought it would be! It covers the manmade concept of race, the color line, international affairs, constantly being an outsider, and how hiding one's identity often led to family tension.
February 4, 2018
I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit it, but I've never really thought about Mexico as a refuge for enslaved people in the US. I had only really considered the Underground Railroad and the north star pointing the way to Canada. This book rectifies that oversight and tells the story of a man who "passed" as Mexican/Cuban/Hawaiian and grew incredibly rich despite the limitations posed by an unfair society.
May 17, 2018
This book tells the incredible story of the former slave who became a millionaire. It includes the reasons why Texas became especially hostile to Hispanics, the politics of the U.S.-Mexico border, the gilded age, resettlement of African Americans in other countries, diplomacy with Ethiopia, the hazards of "crossing to the other side" and much more. It was amusing to find that William Ellis was the sort of con man and flim-flam artist that is still prevalent on Wall Street today.
June 19, 2017
The Strange Career of William Ellis is an interesting book that is simultaneously a biography of William Ellis/Guillermo Eliseo, a study of borderlands history, and a meditation on Americans' unique experience with the understanding of race. It is well worth the read as Ellis/Eliseo is a terrific cipher for the individual American encounters with race and borders.
May 15, 2019
A bit scant as a literal biography, but incredible well-researched information about the history of race relations along and across the Mexican border, including a lot about black americans leaving the south for Mexico. Also a lot about class/race/wealth/etc at the turn of the century in the US through a lens of someone who crossed in and out of these categories depending on circumstance.
February 11, 2021
3.5 stars. A mutli-faceted book that uses biography to peer into issues of race, class, and national identity. Gets a bit dry in parts, and Ellis is sometimes a background figure in his own story (by necessity perhaps, given the lack of extant material). All in all, a very good read. (And don't skip the thoughtful epilogue or the poignant afterword.)
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October 14, 2021Book Clubber noted a passage on page 21 detailing a sort of ethnic cleaning of Mexicans because of their interactions with African Americans. There was also a discussion of “passing” after reading a passage from the book on pages 62-63 when we talked about the laws and the customs of polite society that allowed William Ellis, aka Guillermo Eliseo, to pass.
March 8, 2022
Read this for a class! Reads more as a history book than a biography. Ellis’s story is fascinating and felt like a movie at times. His actions and their effects on racial perceptions in the early 1900s have had long-lasting effects. Overall, the level of detail and research is astonishing. but like i’m glad to be done reading it 🤭
November 10, 2017
Audio version very difficult to listen to. Narrator put "air quotes" in almost half the book with odd inflection points in almost every sentence - quite distracting. Very little of the book is actually about William Ellis.
June 19, 2019
Even though this book deals with such complicated and nuanced issues, it was easy to follow. Besides being incredibly fascinating, the book presented so much information that I was completely unaware of. It’s a great nonfiction read.
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