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The Devil's Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South's Most Notorious Slave Jail
The inspiring true story of an enslaved woman who liberated an infamous slave jail and transformed it into one of the nation’s first HBCUs In The Devil’s Half Acre , New York Times bestselling author Kristen Green draws on years of research to tell the extraordinary and little-known story of young Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who blazed a path of liberation for thousands. She was forced to have the children of a brutal slave trader and live on the premises of his slave jail, known as the “Devil’s Half Acre.” When she inherited the jail after the death of her slaveholder, she transformed it into “God’s Half Acre,” a school where Black men could fulfill their dreams. It still exists today as Virginia Union University, one of America’s first Historically Black Colleges and Universities. A sweeping narrative of a life in the margins of the American slave trade, The Devil’s Half Acre brings Mary Lumpkin into the light. This is the story of the resilience of a woman on the path to freedom, her historic contributions, and her enduring legacy.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2022
207 people are currently reading
7438 people want to read
About the author
Kristen Green
7 books94 followersKristen Green is the author of two nonfiction books, THE DEVIL'S HALF ACRE (April 2022) and the New York Times bestseller SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY. She has worked as a journalist for two decades for papers including the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Boston Globe.
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE REVIEWS
"A gripping narrative" -New York Times
"A gift to a new generation of readers" -The Washington Post
"This intimate and candid account.... personalizes politics, jangles nerves and opens minds."
-Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Green's work brims with real-life detail from the journalist's eye and ear and joins the likes of Diane McWhorter's CARRY ME HOME in further developing the dimensions of the South's desegregation struggle" -Library Journal
"Green feels compelled to stare down her past, and she does so with uncommon humanity."
-New York 1 News
"A potent introduction to a nearly forgotten part of the civil rights movement and a personalized reminder of what it was truly about." -Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)
"Absorbing. . . . A merger of history both lived and studied." -Publishers Weekly
"Green has rendered a deeply moving account of historical injustice and a personal search for redemption for her family's role in it." -Booklist, (starred review)
"A vivid reminder of how things were, not so very long ago." -Harvard Magazine
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE REVIEWS
"A gripping narrative" -New York Times
"A gift to a new generation of readers" -The Washington Post
"This intimate and candid account.... personalizes politics, jangles nerves and opens minds."
-Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Green's work brims with real-life detail from the journalist's eye and ear and joins the likes of Diane McWhorter's CARRY ME HOME in further developing the dimensions of the South's desegregation struggle" -Library Journal
"Green feels compelled to stare down her past, and she does so with uncommon humanity."
-New York 1 News
"A potent introduction to a nearly forgotten part of the civil rights movement and a personalized reminder of what it was truly about." -Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)
"Absorbing. . . . A merger of history both lived and studied." -Publishers Weekly
"Green has rendered a deeply moving account of historical injustice and a personal search for redemption for her family's role in it." -Booklist, (starred review)
"A vivid reminder of how things were, not so very long ago." -Harvard Magazine
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