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Sweet Taste of Liberty
- Author
- W. Caleb McDaniel
- Narrator
- Paul Heitsch
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Publish Date
- 14 January 2020
- Run Time
- 9 hours 51 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Born into slavery, Henrietta Wood was taken to Cincinnati and legally freed in 1848. In 1853, a Kentucky deputy sheriff named Zebulon Ward colluded with Wood's employer, abducted her, and sold her back into bondage. She remained enslaved throughout the Civil War, giving birth to a son in Mississippi and never forgetting who had put her in this position. By 1869, Wood had obtained her freedom for a second time and returned to Cincinnati, where she sued Ward for damages in 1870. Astonishingly, after eight years of litigation, Wood won her case: in 1878, a Federal jury awarded her $2,500. More important than the amount, though the largest ever awarded by an American court in restitution for slavery, was the fact that any money was awarded at all.
McDaniel's book is an epic tale of a black woman who survived slavery twice and who achieved more than merely a moral victory over one of her oppressors. Above all, Sweet Taste of Liberty is a portrait of an extraordinary individual as well as a searing reminder of the lessons of her story, which establish beyond question the connections between slavery and the prison system that rose in its place.
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Details
- Author
- W. Caleb McDaniel
- Narrator
- Paul Heitsch
- Duration
- 9 hours 51 minutes
- Release Date
- 14 January 2020
- ISBN
- 9781494546687
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Genre
- Biography: general, Social and cultural history, Gender studies: women and girls, Legal history, History of the Americas, Society and culture: general, Ethnic studies, Slavery and abolition of slavery, Jurisprudence and general issues, History
Synopsis
The unforgettable saga of one enslaved woman's fight for justice—and reparationsBorn into slavery, Henrietta Wood was taken to Cincinnati and legally freed in 1848. In 1853, a Kentucky deputy sheriff named Zebulon Ward colluded with Wood's employer, abducted her, and sold her back into bondage. She remained enslaved throughout the Civil War, giving birth to a son in Mississippi and never forgetting who had put her in this position. By 1869, Wood had obtained her freedom for a second time and returned to Cincinnati, where she sued Ward for damages in 1870. Astonishingly, after eight years of litigation, Wood won her case: in 1878, a Federal jury awarded her $2,500. More important than the amount, though the largest ever awarded by an American court in restitution for slavery, was the fact that any money was awarded at all.McDaniel's book is an epic tale of a black woman who survived slavery twice and who achieved more than merely a moral victory over one of her oppressors. Above all, Sweet Taste of Liberty is a portrait of an extraordinary individual as well as a searing reminder of the lessons of her story, which establish beyond question the connections between slavery and the prison system that rose in its place.
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